What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in The Knap
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: whether the engine has run since it was put in. Not started so far? Then leave it like that, wherever the vehicle is — The Knap or Barry Dock. Leave the engine and the ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103; it is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in The Knap. Where the motor has run, pull in safely straight away, then turn it off. The job is bigger, yet the first stage is the same.
Further down: the cases our technicians meet, wherever in The Vale of Glamorgan. Choose the one that fits.
The Knap forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
You are at the pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. Maybe you are at the Asda, perhaps at the Morrisons, maybe somewhere else around The Knap.
Put simply: there is no better place to be to spot it. Only your tank holds AdBlue; no part past it has taken it in.
Clearing the pump is no reason to start it — and so don't get back in. Three things: a push into a space with the staff helping, the receipt kept, and a ring to us from the forecourt. Emptying it there at the petrol pump is fine when it cannot be moved, since the equipment is explosion-proof.
AdBlue in the diesel tank on a The Knap drive?
For days the dash had been nagging you. A bottle from the garage, emptied in at the drive — and it was only by the recycling that the cap got a second look. It takes place on driveways just off Lakeside as frequently as anywhere.
The upshot: zero miles since leaves it nearly equal to finding it at the pump. On the bottom of your tank sits where AdBlue stays, since it will not mix with diesel — and a night going by makes nothing of the difference.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so no one moves the vehicle in the morning. Then ring. Your driveway is where it is drained, whether around The Knap or Barry Island. Night-time clears beside a house are no problem: the pumps are low-noise.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving in The Knap?
Rough running, smoke, falling power or a lit dashboard started a mile or two after the top-up. Possibly it was on The Parade, possibly on the way out towards Cardiff, under 10 miles away.
In short: the AdBlue has been sucked into the fuel system. The high-pressure pump and every injector see it too on a bigger run, after the filter and lines have had it. Each restart, like each mile, pushes it on.
What to do: pull over where it is safe and switch off. Services farther along can wait: on the M4, under 10 miles out of The Knap, use the first junction. Do not restart it to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Phone, and say what distance the vehicle went.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
You've had the car barely a week. Unbeknown to you, the two fillers are side by side here — not like your own car, which has no AdBlue or keeps it elsewhere. Wherever you are around The Vale of Glamorgan, any motorist could slip up.
The upshot: just as above, split by whether it ran, but with an added step. Plenty of rental and company agreements require the owner's approval for work.
Sorting it before we arrives is quicker, so phone the hire company or your fleet manager, then us. If you are stranded in the car park at Barry, or by Cold Knap Roman Building, whilst you wait for an answer, leave the car off.
Unsure about AdBlue in your diesel tank in The Knap?
"I think so" is often the most honest as it gets. A slight ammonia whiff lingers around your filler, the bottle seems too light, and the cap you took off is a blur. Maybe at a friend's driveway in Lower Porthkerry, or rushing by the local primary school at the school run.
Meaning? Drips outside the inlet don't touch the engine at all. AdBlue inside the diesel tank does. If there is AdBlue in the tank, firing up the car will suck it in, and it would not tell you which either.
Assume it went in, and don't start the engine. Describe what you saw on the phone. A clear tank looked at is a happier result than an already-run one drained.
What each AdBlue drain in The Knap has in common
Each situation gets the same opening to the job. Three things are asked when we reach the car — on a forecourt, a drive, a road beside Old Watch House or the car park at The Sir Samuel Romilly: the fluid, the amount, and if it has run. Those replies determine the work, and you get our price on the phone, before anyone sets off.
AdBlue crystallises and eats at some metals in fuel systems, so it does not wash out on its own; that is why a full flush, after the drain, matters far more here than with petrol. Clean diesel goes in after the filter has been cleaned or replaced, and the car is finally checked. Never started? In that case roughly half an hour on site is most jobs.
The final step is starting the engine. Our test that it runs smoothly on clean diesel comes before we head off. Lasting damage is very uncommon if it is caught soon, and the entire job is done where your car is. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Dig out your insurance before we're en route: misfuelling cover comes built into plenty of policies.
About The Knap itself
The Knap is a coastal suburban area in the Vale of Glamorgan, situated near Barry Island and Porthkerry. The Knap lies at a low elevation of around 10 metres, close to the sea and approximately 7.9 miles from Cardiff. The Knap has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are particularly prevalent in the area. The Knap is part of the wider Barry urban area, with nearby amenities and attractions.
The Knap and The Vale of Glamorgan: AdBlue drains across the area
Over CF postcodes, the teams covering The Knap — a residential suburb — reach surrounding places as well, Barry and Porthkerry included. The whereabouts comes quickest from a postcode that starts CF62 6.
Stopped heading to Knap Gardens, or bang in the heart of The Knap, the vehicle stays put — there's no need to shift it at all. Wherever it sits, that's where it gets drained. Phone and ask rather than guess if you're by 6th Barry Sea Scout, near a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down.
The one-line version
Not run yet: keep it off then call. Whatever case fits, Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest on 0333 366 0103, throughout The Vale of Glamorgan and within The Knap — once you pull over, switch off then ring, if it has run.