Tondu: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: whether your motor has run since it got in. Not run yet? Then leave the vehicle that way, whether your car is — Tondu or Coytrahen. Switch nothing on, call 0333 366 0103, and expect a thorough flush plus a drain, carried out right where the vehicle sits around Tondu. If it has run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Stage one stays the same, even if the job is bigger.
Find the scenario below that matches yours, wherever around Bridgend it happened.
At the petrol pump around Tondu: AdBlue in a diesel
You're at the petrol pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. Anywhere around Tondu, then — Texaco, Welcome Break, or anywhere else close by.
In short: there is no better spot to be to discover it. Just the tank holds AdBlue; not one component beyond it has taken it in.
Next: avoid the urge to fire it up just to free up the petrol pump. Get the staff to lend a hand pushing it to a bay, save the bottle, then ring us from there. Draining it right at the petrol pump is possible if it cannot be shifted, because the equipment is explosion-proof.
AdBlue in the diesel tank on a Tondu drive?
Several days had passed with the dash light on. Picked up a container, poured it in outside the house, binned the empty — and at that point checked the cap again, too late. Just off Cross Street is no less likely from anywhere.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. On the floor of that tank is exactly where AdBlue waits, since it won't mix with diesel — and a night going by changes nothing of the difference.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so nobody moves your car in the morning. Then ring. Out in Aberkenfig or right here in Tondu, the drain is done on your driveway. The equipment runs quiet enough not to disturb the street at night.
On the road around Tondu with AdBlue in a diesel
A mile or two beyond filling up, the engine started misbehaving: rough running, smoke, less power, lights on your dash. Somewhere on Iron Way or heading towards Swansea — under 25 miles away.
Meaning? Your pump has taken the AdBlue in. Past the fuel filter, through the pipework, and — the further the mileage — on into the high-pressure pump and each injector. Each restart, like every mile, pushes it deeper.
Your move: pull up anywhere safe, then turn the engine off. On the M4, under a mile from Tondu, that means the next exit, not the services further on. No trial restarts: clearing itself isn't something AdBlue does. Ring us and say how far you drove.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company cars
It's a vehicle you have had for a week. Unknown to you, the AdBlue and diesel fillers are next to each other here — unlike your own vehicle, which has no AdBlue or keeps it in another spot. Anywhere you are across Bridgend, any driver could be caught.
The point: exactly as above, split by if it ran, only with one added stage. Many hire and company contracts want the owner to approve work on the car.
Next: ring the hire company or your fleet manager first, then us — sorting it before our arrival is quicker. Stuck by Aberkenfig Library or at the nearest station until the firm answers, the vehicle stays turned off the whole time.
Unsure about AdBlue in your diesel tank in Tondu?
Now and then, "I think so" is the most you can honestly say. What cap was taken off, you cannot say; meanwhile the bottle feels less than expected, and ammonia lingers by the filler. Possibly it happened in a hurry at the school gates at the local primary school, or on a friend's drive in Cymdda.
Meaning? Spills around the inlet never reach the motor at all. Once it's inside your diesel tank, though, it does. You cannot tell which by turning the key, and doing so would suck in any AdBlue that is in that tank.
What to do: treat it as if it was put in. Do not crank it. Tell us what you noticed on the phone. A clear tank looked at counts as a happier result than a run one drained.
Tondu: what every AdBlue drain has in common
Whatever the case, a single opening applies. Three things are asked when our engineers arrive — on a filling station, a driveway, a road by St Robert of Newminster Church or the car park at Tondu Railway Club: the liquid, the quantity, and if it has run. Answers shape the work; the price comes on the call while nobody has set off yet.
AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to certain metals in fuel systems, and so it does not wash out unaided; that's why the flush, after this drain, counts far more with AdBlue than with petrol. Next comes the fuel filter — cleaned, or replaced where necessary — then clean diesel, and a test of your vehicle. Not started? In that case roughly half an hour on site is most jobs.
Starting the engine comes at the end. We make sure it runs correctly on clean diesel before leaving. Long-term damage is very unusual when it is caught quickly, and the entire job is done where the vehicle is. Nothing is paid upfront, settlement is made on the day, and you get what the insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Worth knowing: lots of insurers offer misfuelling cover, so a quick look at your policy as you wait is worthwhile.
About Tondu, briefly
Tondu is a village situated on the riverside in Bridgend, Wales, with a population of around 1892 people. Tondu has a mix of housing types, but detached homes are the most predominant. Tondu is located near several other villages, including Aberkenfig, Sarn, and Fountain, and is approximately 15.6 miles from Swansea. Tondu sits at an elevation of 59 metres above sea level, in a scenic area near the Welsh coast.
Tondu and Bridgend: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a village, Tondu shares its vans with the surrounding places — Fountain, Sarn — right across CF postcodes. The whereabouts is quickest from a postcode that starts CF32 9.
Whether your car is on a lay-by on the way to Fountain Parkland or in a car park in the middle of Tondu, it does not need to shift. We drain it where it sits. If you're somewhere hard to explain, near Ynysawdre Community Centre or close to a border, ring and ask rather than assuming.
The one-line version
Not run yet: keep the car off then ring. Run by now: pull over, power down, phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, in Tondu or anywhere in Bridgend.