Tonna: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Then keep your engine off — and the ignition as well. Chemically, AdBlue is just urea in water. Not like fuel, it neither burns nor blends, and no harm starts until your motor pulls it through. Caught before the engine has run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Tonna. Before anything, call us on 0333 366 0103.
What to do right now, Tonna: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Do:
- So no one can turn the ignition on, pull your keys away.
- Put your hazards on if you are anywhere close to moving traffic.
- So you can give us which liquid it was and roughly what quantity, keep the receipt or the empty bottle.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting SA11 3, or the name of the nearest street, gets the van to you without a search.
Do not do these:
- Shifting your car even a short way is no reason to start the motor.
- Turning the key to ignition by itself sets the pump going on plenty of diesels. Skip it.
- Do not top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue does not mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, even a short stretch up St Anne's Terrace.
- Draining the tank yourself beside the road is not worth trying.
Rolling the vehicle away from the island is a job for attendants to help with, wherever Tonna forecourt you are on, the Morrisons included. If you are on your own drive, leave the car just where it sits.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Meant for your exhaust, AdBlue has no place in the motor. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to clean it. Neither side fits the other: urea does not belong in an injection pump, and an injection pump cannot deal with urea.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, after tipped in, will not. The behaviour is nothing like diesel's. It's heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and collects at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup sucks fuel from. The first thing your fuel system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Cadoxton-Juxta-Neath last night, and has not been started since, is still the simple 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. It eats at certain metals used in fuel systems, working on any part it reaches until it is cleared from your system. And when the water goes, the urea turns into crystals that block filters and settle in narrow channels. By daybreak, a vehicle sitting in Tonna with AdBlue through its pipework grows worse; if it's just in your tank, it doesn't. And there's the water: it offers no lubrication to the parts that rely on it the most — the injection pump and each injector.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's often worse than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol by mistake at the Tesco, and this problem is diluted fuel. Blended through the diesel and left unused, it's harmless at that stage; running your motor does the harm.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid itself is plainly the wrong one. Since it doesn't burn, running it through isn't an option. Crystals and corrosion stay after the following fill, and AdBlue separates back out of the diesel, so watering it can't help. That is why the flush matters so much, and turning your key "to see" costs more here than nearly any other slip — in Tyn-y-caeau or the heart of Tonna equally.
As with petrol, there is good news. Wherever in Neath Port Talbot the car has stopped, an unstarted engine means the AdBlue still in the tank: the simplest bit of a fuel system to empty.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Tonna: how it ends up there
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many cars sits right next to the diesel filler, occasionally under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. 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.
A couple of familiar ways account for the majority of them. Hurrying, outside the local primary school, after a warning light flashed on during the school run, someone refills your car. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Park Street. Else, in dim light by The Whittington Arms, the car is topped up by a driver opening that flap for the first time.
The least familiar cars get it most — hire cars, new cars, company cars, and the spare car in a family with both fuels. Anywhere around Neath Port Talbot, Tonna as well, the mistake does not change, and neither does the first step: leave it switched off.
Started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Tonna?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Via your filter, along the lines, and — with any running time — into the injection pump and every injector: that's how far it travels.
Maybe returning from Aberdulais Golf Range & Academy, or midway across Tonna, the engine may go lumpy, smoke, lose pace, light up your dash or stall. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart it to check. More of it is pulled through with each start.
On the M4, under 5 miles from Tonna, the first junction is where to exit, and anywhere safe is where to stop — not driving on.
Mileage counts: every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in, so driving towards Swansea, under 10 miles away, makes a far bigger job than hopping across Tonna to the car park by Church of St Anne. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
There's more to clean out once the motor has been run, and our engineers do all of it where the car has ended up. If it's noticed early, long-term damage is very unusual.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Tonna?
We come to the vehicle, wherever it has stopped around Tonna: a side street near Aberdulais Falls Visitor Centre, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. What got in, about the quantity, plus if the motor has been run: we check before all else, since those shape the job.
Next, emptying that tank on the spot takes out the contaminated diesel and the AdBlue together. A careful flush counts much more after AdBlue than after petrol, since residue won't wash away by itself. A test of your car comes at the end, once fresh diesel is added and the filter is cleaned or, where necessary, swapped. Most of these jobs are a half-hour job once our engineers turn up, provided your engine hasn't run. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Finally, the system is primed with new diesel. You drive off as soon as our engineers have started it, and it makes no difference whether your car is on a drive around Tonna or in a space by Neath. Before leaving, our technicians check it's running correctly with fresh diesel in. We do it all wherever the car has stopped, and it never has to be taken to a workshop. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report after that, which is what insurers want.
About Tonna
Tonna is a small village situated on the banks of the River Neath in south Wales, with Aberdulais and Cilfrew nearby. Tonna has a relatively low elevation of around 35 metres above sea level and is located approximately 8 miles north of Swansea. Tonna remains a residential community with a mix of housing types, although semi-detached homes are predominant. Tonna is also close to the village of Llantwit, and is within commuting distance of Swansea and other nearby towns.
AdBlue drains across Neath Port Talbot, Tonna included
Throughout the SA postcode area, the vans answering AdBlue call-outs in Tonna serve most of Neath Port Talbot too, Aberdulais, Cilfrew and Llantwit included. Phone and check instead of guessing if you are close to a county line, or somewhere tricky to pin down.
No towing is needed. In Tonna, a village, a van that comes to you fits: the vehicle is emptied where it stands, be it in a driveway, a residential street, a parking area or a filling station.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in Tonna?
Since the callouts differ, a single price wouldn't be honest. Three things change the price: whether your engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where the vehicle is. That last one rests on whether a technician can reach it safely, and an open drive is easier than a tight space behind Aberdulais Tin Works and Waterfall.
What went in, how much, and if it ran: every Tonna enquiry opens by asking exactly those, ahead of any figure, never after. When those are answered, a range becomes one firm figure.
The price is given on the call, before a van leaves; payment happens on the day, by card or by phone, and nothing upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
Tonna: still beside the vehicle?
Then the most helpful thing you can do is nothing to your car. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103 and tell us it is AdBlue, about how much, and whether it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Tonna or anywhere around Neath Port Talbot.