AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Penrhos? Keep It Switched Off
Motor off, ignition off: that is where you begin if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. Water with urea mixed in it: that's AdBlue. As it is water-based, it will not burn and won't blend with diesel; trouble just comes when your pump starts pulling it. In Penrhos, AdBlue in a diesel tank caught before the engine runs usually means a drain and a thorough flush, just where your car is. First, call us on 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank around Penrhos
Do:
- Take your keys out, and so no one switches the ignition on.
- Close to moving traffic? Then put your hazards on.
- So you can tell us which fluid it was and roughly what quantity, save your receipt or the empty bottle.
- Call just where you are. Say a SA9 1 postcode or the closest street name, and no one has to search for you.
Do not do these:
- Not even for a second, and not to roll your car: your engine stays off.
- Many diesels run their pump the moment the ignition comes on, and so keep the car off.
- Don't top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Even a short way along Brecon Road is too far to drive the vehicle.
- Do not try to drain the car yourself at the roadside.
On a forecourt in Penrhos, whether it is the Murco or another one, ask the attendants to help you push your car away from the petrol pump. At home, the car remains exactly where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Not your motor but the exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it's fed into your exhaust, where it cleans the fumes. A fuel pump is not designed to take it, and AdBlue was never supposed to travel through one.
It doesn't blend. After it's poured into the tank, AdBlue acts not at all like fuel. It's heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and collects at the bottom of the tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. A car filled on a driveway in Cwmgiedd yesterday evening and left unstarted is the straightforward case. No pump has sucked the AdBlue up yet — but once the engine turns, that is what goes first, directly from the bottom of the tank.
It causes two kinds of harm from there. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it is corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, so it keeps running on the parts it reaches for as long as it remains there. Where the AdBlue is in the pipework, leaving it overnight in Penrhos leaves it worse. In that tank alone, time costs nothing. The water in it causes harm of its own: the high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel often the bigger problem?
Top up a diesel with petrol in error over at the Tesco, and the issue is thinned fuel. Harm only comes from running on it. Blended into your diesel and left inside your tank, it causes nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel is a fault of the wrong substance altogether. It cannot simply be run through, since it doesn't burn. Nor can it be thinned, since it splits back out — and the next tankful won't rinse away crystals or corrosion. So the flush matters for more with AdBlue, and trying your engine "to see", in the heart of Penrhos or out in Ystradgynlais, costs more than almost any other slip.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Anywhere in Powys the car has come to rest, an unrun engine means the AdBlue still inside the tank: the simplest bit of a fuel system to clear.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Penrhos: how it ends up there
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many vehicles rests right next to the diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. A bottle picked up when heading home and poured in at home, rather than at the forecourt, is the usual story.
A few familiar ways account for most cases. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside the local primary school the refill is hurried. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Cwm Tawe Road. Or the car is topped up in the car park outside Penrhos Social Club, in poor light, by a person who has never opened that flap before.
It crops up the most in a hire car, a new motor, a fleet motor, or the other car of a family with both fuels — the vehicles people know least. Leave it switched off: that is the first step to the same mistake, wherever around Penrhos or the rest of Powys you are.
Started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Penrhos?
The AdBlue has left that tank, then. Via the fuel filter, along the pipework, and — given any running time — into the injection pump and every injector: that's where it travels.
Lumpy running, smoke, dropping power, dashboard lights or stalling: each might appear, maybe midway across Penrhos or coming back from Penrhos AFC. No starting it again to test: pull over when it is safe, then switch everything off. Every start pulls more of it through.
If you were on the M4, under 15 miles from Penrhos, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on.
Hopping across Penrhos to the car park by Ystradgynlais Community Centre is one thing; driving for Swansea, under 15 miles away, is another, since every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in. So distance counts. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
Wherever your car came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to rinse out once your engine has been running. If it's caught soon, long-term damage is very unusual.
Clearing AdBlue in a diesel around Penrhos: what it takes
Our technicians come to your car, wherever it has stopped around Penrhos: a side street near Yoruth Chapel, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Three replies shape the job, so before anything else our technicians ask what got in, roughly the amount, plus whether your engine has run.
On the spot, that tank is then emptied, and both the polluted diesel and the urea leave at once. What remains from AdBlue will not flush out unaided, and so the fuel system gets a full flush, which counts much more with urea than for petrol. Fresh diesel goes in after the fuel filter is flushed — or swapped, when it needs to be — and after that the vehicle is tested. About half an hour once we arrive is usual for most jobs where the motor hasn't run. Quiet enough to use outside a house at night, and safe on a busy forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
Clean diesel goes in to bleed your system, and that is the last step. Starting the engine comes next, and then you drive off from where your car is parked, by Neath or on a driveway in Penrhos. Our technicians make sure it runs smoothly on new diesel before leaving. No workshop is needed at any stage, with the whole job done on the spot. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report afterwards, which is what insurers ask for.
About Penrhos
Penrhos is a suburban area in Powys, Wales, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 119 metres. Penrhos lies near several small settlements, including Ynys-uchaf, Ynys-isaf, and Caer-bont, and is approximately 14 miles from Swansea. Penrhos has a population of around 1201 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Penrhos is located in a region with easy access to major cities, being around 156 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Powys, Penrhos included
The vans that answer AdBlue call-outs around Penrhos also cover the locations around it, Ynys-uchaf, Ynys-isaf and Caer-bont among them, and most of Powys beyond, across the SA postcode area. Guessing doesn't help close to a county line or anywhere hard to pin down; phone and ask.
Penrhos is a residential suburb, and a call-out drain suits it: whether the car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, we drain it where it stands, and so it never needs to be moved to us.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Penrhos: the cost of fixing it
Each job is different, and so not one single price would be fair. The price moves first with how long, if at all, the engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that was put in. After that it rests on where the vehicle is and whether a technician can reach it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight spot behind Ystradgynlais Public Library.
What got in, what quantity, plus if it ran: each Penrhos enquiry opens with exactly that, ahead of any figure, not after. When they are known, a range becomes one firm number.
Before anyone sets off, you are told the quote by phone. And payment is on the day, card or over the phone, with nothing in advance. As our engineer is travelling, dig out your policy: plenty include misfuelling.
Alongside the car in Penrhos, still?
Right now, the most helpful thing to do with the car is to leave it. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Tell us it was AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and whether it ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel handles it, across Penrhos or anywhere within Powys.