AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Plas-Marl? Don't Start It
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Then keep your motor off — and your ignition as well. Water with urea mixed in it: that is AdBlue. As it is water-based, it will not ignite and never combines with diesel; trouble just comes when your pump begins pulling it. A drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Plas-Marl, is normally all AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it is caught before the motor has been run. Before you do anything else, call 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank around Plas-Marl
Do:
- Take your keys out, so nobody switches your ignition on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere near.
- So you can give us which liquid it was and about how much, save the receipt or the empty bottle.
- Give us a postcode starting SA6 8, or whichever street is nearest, and the van finds you directly — so call wherever you stand.
Never do these:
- Don't start the engine, even for a moment to shift your car.
- Your ignition stays off: on many diesels, switching it on is enough to start your pump.
- No extra fuel added. The AdBlue will not mix, so it is wasted.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short way along Britannia Road.
- No emptying it yourself, at all, on the verge.
The staff on duty at any Plas-Marl forecourt — the Texaco included — will normally lend a hand rolling it clear if you ask. Stopped on your own driveway? Then it stays just as it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Not your engine but the exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is built to handle it.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, after tipped in, won't. Its behaviour is not at all like diesel's. It drops, because it's denser than diesel, and settles low where the pickup draws its fuel from. The first thing the fuel system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a vehicle that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Waun-Gron last night, and has not been started since, is still the straightforward case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of that tank, and nothing has pulled it in.
From there it causes two kinds of damage. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it's corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, so it keeps working on the components it reaches for as long as it remains there. If the AdBlue is in the lines, waiting till morning around Plas-Marl leaves things worse. Inside your tank only, time does nothing. The water in it does damage of its own: the high-pressure fuel pump and your injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is frequently worse
Petrol put into a diesel on Morrisons's forecourt makes the fuel watery — that is the whole issue. Damage only comes from running on it. Blended into the diesel and left in your tank, it does nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel is another problem: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. It does not burn, and so it cannot simply be run through. Nor can it be watered down, because it separates back out — and the following tankful will not rinse away crystals or corrosion. So the flush matters for more with AdBlue, and trying the engine "to see", in the heart of Plas-Marl or out in Lisbon, does more harm than nearly any other mistake.
As with petrol, there is good news. Wherever around Swansea the vehicle has come to rest, an unstarted engine leaves the AdBlue still in the reservoir: the simplest bit of any fuel system to clear.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Plas-Marl?
Many motors put the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel cap, now and then behind one flap, and in dim light the two can appear the same. Nobody intends it. Most of the time it takes place with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the forecourt.
It tends to happen in a couple of familiar ways. The refill gets hurried outside the local primary school, because the dash lit up with a warning while the kids were taken off. A driver pours the container in outside their house, just off Neath Road, as the day ends. Else, after dark by Dillwyn Arms, your vehicle gets refilled by a driver using that flap the first time.
The least familiar cars get it the most — hire cars, brand-new ones, fleet cars, and the spare motor in a home with both fuel types. An identical slip, an identical first response — keep it switched off — wherever you are in Plas-Marl or the rest of Swansea.
Started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Plas-Marl?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer inside that tank. The filter and pipework have had it pulled through, and any running time takes it on to the injection pump and each injector.
Lumpy running, smoke, lost power, dashboard warnings or cutting out: any may appear, perhaps midway across Plas-Marl or returning from Cwm Level Park. Pull over when safe. Switch off. Keep the vehicle off instead of testing it again. Every start pulls more of that through.
Exit the M4, under 3 miles from Plas-Marl, at the next junction and park somewhere safe, not carrying on.
Every mile carries the AdBlue further into your system. That is why a hop across Plas-Marl to park near Swansea Indoor Bowls Stadium and a drive of under 3 miles for Swansea are very distinct jobs. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
Wherever the vehicle came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to rinse out after the motor has been run. When it's noticed early, permanent damage is very rare.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel in Plas-Marl: what it takes
Anywhere it has come to rest around Plas-Marl — a filling station, a lay-by, a driveway, a road by Morris Castle — the van comes to the car. Three answers shape the job, so before anything else our technicians ask which fluid went in, about the amount, and whether your motor has turned over.
The polluted diesel and the urea come out together after the tank is drained, on the spot. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, flushing matters: the whole system is cleaned all the way through because residue won't flush away by itself. Clean diesel goes in once the fuel filter is cleaned — or replaced, if it needs to be — and after that your vehicle is tested. Engine not run? In that case count on roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Our pumping gear is explosion-proof, and so a busy forecourt is no fault, and it is quiet enough for a residential street late at night.
The last step is to prime the system on new diesel. Firing it up comes next, and then you drive off from where the car is parked, at Swansea or on a driveway in Plas-Marl. The test before our technicians leave is that it runs correctly on new diesel. No workshop is required at any point, with the whole job done on the spot. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both at the end.
About Plas-Marl, briefly
Plas-Marl is a suburban area located on the coast near Swansea, with a mix of terraced housing and local amenities. Plas-Marl sits at an elevation of 29 metres, close to the city centre and nearby communities such as Cnap-Llwyd and Landore. Plas-Marl is part of the wider Swansea urban area, with the city's maritime history and cultural attractions within easy reach. Plas-Marl has a population of around 2342 people, living in a predominantly residential environment.
Plas-Marl and Swansea: AdBlue drains across the area
AdBlue call-outs in Plas-Marl go to teams that serve the towns near it — Cnap-Llwyd, Landore as well as Graig Trewyddfa — and most of Swansea further out, across SA postcodes. Close to a border, or anywhere tricky to explain? Checking is better than guessing, so phone.
Plas-Marl 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, our engineers drain it where it stands, and so it never needs to be moved to us.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in Plas-Marl?
Since the jobs vary, a single price wouldn't be honest. Three things change the price: whether the motor has run and for how long, how much AdBlue got in, and where the car is. That last one rests on whether a technician can get to it safely, and an open driveway is simpler than a tight gap behind Morfa Shopping.
Before a figure, not after, each call from Plas-Marl begins with three questions: the liquid, the quantity, plus if the engine ran. The answers turn a range into a straight quote.
You hear that quote by phone, before anyone sets off, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
Next to the vehicle around Plas-Marl, still?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to your car. Ignition off, motor off, keys out. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest, across Plas-Marl or wherever within Swansea, once you phone 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and whether it ran.