Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Trefonen
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Then keep the engine off — and the ignition too. In plain terms, AdBlue is simply urea in water. Not like fuel, it neither ignites nor blends, and nothing happens till your motor pulls it through. Caught before your engine has run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Trefonen. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Trefonen: the first few minutes
Do:
- Remove your keys, which stops anyone turning the power on.
- Put the hazard lights on if you're anywhere near moving traffic.
- So you can give us which liquid it was and about how much, save the till receipt or the empty bottle.
- Call just where you are. Say a SY10 9 postcode or the closest street name, and no one has to hunt for you.
Do not:
- Not even for a second, and not to shift your vehicle: your motor remains off.
- The ignition stays off: on many diesels, turning it on is enough to run your fuel pump.
- Don't top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Don't drive the car anywhere, not even a short distance up Oswestry Road.
- Don't try to drain it yourself at the roadside.
Ask the attendants to help you move the vehicle off the pumps if you are at a forecourt in Trefonen, whether it's the Shell or somewhere else. Parked on your own drive? Then it remains exactly where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Not your motor but your exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. From a separate tank it goes directly to your exhaust, treating what your motor lets out. A fuel pump is not made to take it, and AdBlue was never supposed to go through one.
It does not blend. Once it's tipped into a tank of diesel, AdBlue behaves not at all like diesel. It sinks, since it is heavier than diesel, and pools down where the intake takes 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 Coed y Go last night, and has not been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has drawn it in.
It does two kinds of harm from there. It eats at some metals used in fuel systems, attacking any part it touches until it's cleared completely. And when the water goes, the urea turns into crystals that block filters and settle in narrow channels. If the AdBlue has reached the pipework, waiting till morning around Trefonen leaves things worse. Inside your tank alone, time costs nothing. Diesel lubricates the high-pressure pump and every injector as it flows; water offers none of that, and that is a second form of damage.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel frequently the bigger issue?
Put petrol in a diesel at the Morrisons and you have a fault of thin fuel. Mixed into the diesel and sitting unused, it is harmless at that stage; using the motor does the harm.
AdBlue in a diesel is another matter: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. Since it doesn't burn, running it through is not an option. It doesn't stay mixed, and so it can't be thinned. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting your engine "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether your car is in Croesau Bach or the middle of Trefonen.
With AdBlue, the good news is no separate from petrol. Wherever around Shropshire your vehicle has stopped, an unrun engine leaves the AdBlue still in the reservoir: the simplest bit of any fuel system to clear.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Trefonen
Plenty of motors place the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel one, now and then under one flap, and after dark the two may appear the same. No one 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 few familiar ways. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Trefonen CofE Primary School the refill is hurried. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Treflach Road. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park outside Barley Mow, in poor light, by someone who has never opened that flap before.
It occurs most in the vehicles motorists know least: a hire car, a new motor, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Keep it off: that's the first response to an identical slip, wherever around Trefonen or the remainder of Shropshire you are.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Trefonen?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer in your tank. The fuel filter and lines have had it pulled through, and some running time carries it on to the injection pump and each injector.
Expect lumpy running, exhaust smoke, lost power, lights on the dash, or a cut-out — returning from Bwlytai Wood, perhaps, or midway across Trefonen. Once you safely can, pull over then turn everything off — with no restarting to test. More of that is pulled through with each start.
If you were on the M54, under 50 miles from Trefonen, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere sensible rather than pressing on.
Hopping across Trefonen to the car park by All Saints is one thing; driving for Wrexham, under 25 miles away, is something else, since every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in. So mileage matters. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
We do all of the cleaning where the vehicle has come to a stop, and once the engine has been run there is more of it. Very seldom does it leave lasting damage if it's noticed early.
What draining AdBlue from a diesel involves in Trefonen
The car stays put, whether that's a street near Trefonen Village Hall, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt in Trefonen, and our van comes to it. What got in, roughly how much, plus whether your motor has turned over: our technicians ask first, because those decide the work.
Next, emptying your tank on the spot takes out the contaminated diesel along with the AdBlue in one go. A careful flush matters much more after AdBlue than after petrol, because residue won't clear away on its own. Fresh diesel goes in once the fuel filter is flushed — or replaced, when it needs to be — and then your car is tested. About half an hour on site is typical for most jobs when your engine has not run. Explosion-proof pumps make a busy forecourt safe to work on, and they run quiet enough to spare the street at night.
Fresh diesel goes in to prime the fuel system, and that is the last step. You head off as soon as our engineers have started the car, and it makes no difference whether the vehicle is on a drive around Trefonen or in a space outside Gobowen. We confirm it runs properly on fresh diesel before leaving. Our engineers do it all wherever the vehicle has ended up, and it never has to go to a workshop. The insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and the VAT invoice — both yours afterwards.
About Trefonen and where it is
Trefonen is a small village in Shropshire, situated inland at an elevation of 184 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Trefonen lies near the villages of Treflach, Gronwen, and Tyn-y-coed, and is approximately 15.5 miles from the city of Wrexham. Trefonen has a population of around 745 residents, and is located about 155.7 miles from London. Trefonen is a rural community with a strong sense of local identity.
AdBlue drains across Shropshire, Trefonen included
Throughout the SY postcode area, the vans answering AdBlue call-outs around Trefonen reach most of Shropshire too, Treflach, Gronwen and Tyn-y-coed included. Ring and ask rather than guess if you're by a border, or somewhere tricky to pin down.
A van that comes to you suits Trefonen, a rural village: there's no need to take your car to us, since our engineers drain it on the spot, in a driveway, a side street, a parking area or a filling station.
Trefonen: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Because the callouts vary, a flat price would not be fair. Three things shift the price: whether the engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where the vehicle is. That last one comes down to whether a van can reach it safely, and an open driveway is easier than a tight spot behind Tanat Valley Light Railway Museum.
That is why each call from Trefonen starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what went in, how much, and whether it's run. Those replies narrow a range right down to a single figure.
Before a van heads out, you hear the price by phone. Then you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing in advance. While our engineer is travelling, dig out your policy: many include misfuelling.
In Trefonen and still alongside your car?
Then the most helpful thing you can do is nothing to the car. Keys out, engine off, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, across Trefonen or wherever within Shropshire, once you phone 0333 366 0103 to say it's AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and if the engine ran.