AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Tir-Nest? Don't Start It
Engine off, ignition off: that's where you start if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. Urea dissolved in water is all AdBlue is. It doesn't burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the damage it does starts when the system pulls it in. If the motor has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually emptied and thoroughly purged where the car stands around Tir-Nest. First, ring us on 0333 366 0103.
Tir-Nest, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do straight away
To do:
- Remove your keys, which prevents someone switching the electrics on.
- If you are at all close to moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- Keep the receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what got in and roughly how much.
- Call just where you are. Say a SA1 7 postcode or the closest street name, and nobody has to hunt for you.
Not to do:
- No starting your motor — not for a second, not to reposition the car.
- Do not switch the ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- AdBlue does not dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding more diesel won't weaken it.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, including a short distance along Pen-y-Garn.
- Emptying the tank yourself by the road is not worth trying.
The staff on duty at any Tir-Nest filling station — the Morrisons among them — will usually help rolling it aside if you ask. At your own drive, don't touch it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not your engine. Its own reservoir holds it, and from there it is fed into your exhaust, where it treats the gas. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is built to handle it.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves very differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. It is heavier than diesel, so it sinks and collects at the bottom of that tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. The first thing the fuel system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a vehicle that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Pentre-chwyth 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 drawn it in.
Once it is drawn in, the harm takes two forms. 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, and so it keeps labouring on the components it gets to for as long as it remains there. Pipes carrying AdBlue spell damage overnight for a car sitting in Tir-Nest. Only inside that tank, it stays stable. The water in it causes damage of its own: the high-pressure pump and the injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is regularly worse
Put petrol in a diesel at the Texaco and you have a fault of thin fuel. It mixes with the diesel, and while it is inside your tank it causes no harm; the harm comes from running the motor on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid as such is plainly the wrong one. Because it doesn't burn, running it through isn't an option. Nor can it be thinned, since it separates again — and the following tankful won't clear away deposits or corrosion. So the flush matters more here, and trying your engine "to see", in the heart of Tir-Nest or out in Cwm, costs more than nearly any other mistake.
With AdBlue, the good news is no distinct from petrol. Clearing a tank is the simplest job on a fuel system, and with no start-up, the AdBlue stays in it — wherever across Swansea the car sits.
Tir-Nest: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
In dim light, two caps together — the AdBlue cap and the diesel one, now and then under a single flap — may appear the same. Nobody means it; plenty of designs invite it. A container bought while heading home and tipped in outside the house, instead of at the filling station, is the typical story.
A few familiar ways cover the majority of them. Rushing, outside the local primary school, after a warning light flashed on during the school run, a parent tops up your car. Close to Jersey Road, a driver tips a container in on the drive in the evening. Or a driver unfamiliar with that flap tops up the car after dark, parked in the car park by The Jersey Arms.
The least familiar cars get it the most — rentals, new ones, fleet ones, and the other motor in a home with one of each fuel types. Wherever you're in Tir-Nest or the rest of Swansea, it's the same error and the same first answer: leave the car off.
Started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Tir-Nest?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer inside your tank. Given any running, it goes on to the injection pump and every injector, after passing via the filter and lines.
You may notice your engine running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, possibly on the way back from Kilvey Community Woodland or halfway across Tir-Nest. Pull over when it is safe. Turn off. Keep the vehicle off instead of restarting it to check. Each start pulls more of it through.
Tir-Nest sits under 3 miles from the M4; if you were on it, exit by the first junction and stop safely rather than carrying on.
How far it went counts. A couple of hundred yards across Tir-Nest to the car park by TK Maxx is a very different job from a run towards Swansea, under 3 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the system with every mile. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
Wherever the car came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to clean out after the engine has been started. Very rarely does it leave lasting damage if it's caught soon.
Tir-Nest: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
Anywhere it has come to rest in Tir-Nest — a forecourt, a lay-by, a drive, a street by Morfa Shopping — the van travels to your vehicle. Three answers shape the job, so before anything else our engineers ask which fluid got in, about what quantity, plus if your engine has run.
The polluted diesel and the urea leave together after that tank is emptied, right there. A careful flush counts much more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what remains won't clear out on its own. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Roughly half an hour on site is typical for most jobs where the motor has not run. Low-noise enough for use outside a house at night, and safe on a busy forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
Bleeding your system with new diesel comes last. You drive off as soon as our engineers have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether your car is on a drive around Tir-Nest or in a space at Swansea. The check before our technicians go is that it runs smoothly on fresh diesel. The whole job is done where the car is, so it never needs to go to a workshop. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report afterwards, which is what insurers want.
About Tir-Nest and where it is
Tir-Nest is a suburban area located on the coast near Swansea, with a mix of semi-detached housing and local amenities. Tir-Nest sits at an elevation of 64 metres, overlooking the surrounding coastline and nearby urban areas. Tir-Nest is close to several nearby places, including Hanover Square, Pentrer-Gaseg, and Bon-y-maen, and is situated approximately 1.8 miles from Swansea city centre.
AdBlue drains across Tir-Nest and Swansea
Hanover Square, Pentrer-Gaseg and Bon-y-maen are among the towns near Tir-Nest that the same teams reach, together with most of Swansea further out, over the SA postcode area. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask rather than guessing.
Anywhere your car stands — a drive at home, a side street, a car park, a forecourt — our engineers empty it on the spot, with no need to take it to us; which suits Tir-Nest, a residential suburb, well.
Tir-Nest: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
There's no fair single quote, since the jobs aren't the same. Whether the motor has been running, and for how long, comes first in what changes the price. How much AdBlue was put in comes next, and then the position of the vehicle, because an open drive is simpler for our van to get to safely than a tight spot behind Swansea.com Stadium.
For that in mind, every enquiry from Tir-Nest begins with the identical trio — which fluid was put in, how much, if it ran — before any figure. Once those are known, a range becomes one firm figure.
The price is given during the call, before anyone leaves; payment happens on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. While our engineer is on the way, check your insurance: plenty include misfuelling.
Beside your car in Tir-Nest, still?
Right now, the best thing to do with your car is to leave it. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Tell us it's AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel handles it, across Tir-Nest or wherever within Swansea.