AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Ty-coch? Don't Start It
If AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank, leave your motor off then keep your ignition off. Water with urea dissolved in it: that is AdBlue. Being water-based, it will not ignite and never combines with diesel; trouble just starts when your pump starts pulling it. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Ty-coch, is normally all AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it is caught before the engine has run. Before you do anything else, phone 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Ty-coch: the first few minutes
Do:
- So nobody can turn your ignition on, take your keys out.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all close.
- Which product, and roughly how much volume? Hang on to the bottle or the till receipt, and our engineers will know.
- Our van locates you fastest with a postcode starting SA2 9, or just the name of a street close by, so phone from the spot.
Not to do:
- No starting your motor — not briefly, not to shift your car.
- The ignition stays off: on lots of diesels, turning it on is enough to start the pump.
- AdBlue does not mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra fuel won't weaken it.
- Even a short stretch down Tycoch Road is too far to drive it.
- Draining that tank yourself beside the road is not worth trying.
On a forecourt around Ty-coch, whether it is the Shell or another one, ask the attendants to help you push your car away from the petrol pump. Stopped on your own drive? Then it remains exactly as it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
The engine is not what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it. No part inside an injection pump is made for this liquid — and none of it was meant to go that way.
Inside a diesel tank it acts very differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. It drops, because it is denser than diesel, and settles low where the intake takes its fuel from. Simplest of all: a vehicle that had AdBlue in Cwm Gwyn overnight and hasn't been started since. The AdBlue waits at the base of your tank, untouched — though it will be first through once your engine starts, ahead of any diesel at all.
Two kinds of harm come from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that hardens in filters and tiny passages; meanwhile, because it attacks some metals, every part it touches keeps suffering for as long as it stays inside. Pipes holding AdBlue spell damage overnight for a car sitting in Ty-coch. Only in the tank, it stays the same. Then there is the water: it brings no lubrication to the components that rely on it the most — the high-pressure pump and each injector.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is commonly worse
Fill a diesel with petrol by mistake at the Texaco, and this problem is diluted fuel. Blended into your diesel and sitting unused, it's harmless for now; using your motor does the damage.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely wrong substance. It can't just be run through, since it does not burn. Whether your vehicle sits in Olchfa or the centre of Ty-coch, firing it up "to see" costs more in this case than nearly any other slip, and the flush counts for more. Why: it won't remain mixed, and so watering it down fails; and crystals and corrosion survive the following fill.
As with petrol, there's good news. If your motor has not run, the AdBlue is still inside that tank, and the tank is the quickest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever in Swansea the car is standing.
Ty-coch: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
Plenty of vehicles place the AdBlue cap beside the diesel cap, now and then behind one flap, and in dim light the two may look identical. Nobody intends it. Usually it's never the forecourt: someone picks up a bottle heading home and tips it in outside the house.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up occurs in a hurry outside the local primary school. Close to Harlech Crescent, someone pours a container in at home after work. Else, in dim light outside Vivian Arms Hotel, your vehicle gets topped up by someone opening that flap for the first time.
The least known vehicles get it the most — hire cars, brand-new ones, company ones, and the spare car of a family with one of each fuels. An identical slip, same first step — leave it switched off — wherever you are around Ty-coch or the rest of Swansea.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Ty-coch, and the engine started?
The AdBlue has left your tank, then. Via the filter, through the lines, and — given any running — into the injection pump and every injector: that's where it travels.
Perhaps coming back from Cockett Woods Park, or midway across Ty-coch, the engine may go lumpy, smoke, drop power, flash the dash or cut out. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart the vehicle to check. Each start pulls more of it through.
If you were on the M4, under 5 miles from Ty-coch, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere sensible rather than pressing on.
Each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in. That's why a hop across Ty-coch to park beside Bethel Chapel and a drive of under 3 miles towards Swansea are very distinct jobs. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
Once the motor has run, the flush covers more, and all of it is done where the vehicle has come to a stop. Spotted quickly, it very seldom leaves lasting damage.
What draining AdBlue from a diesel involves in Ty-coch
Anywhere it has come to rest around Ty-coch — a forecourt, a lay-by, a drive, a road beside Sketty Library — the van travels to the vehicle. Three answers shape the work, so first our engineers ask what got in, roughly the amount, and whether your engine has run.
The polluted diesel and the urea leave as one when that tank is drained, on the spot. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, flushing matters: the whole system is cleaned all the way through since residue will not wash out by itself. Testing your vehicle comes at the end, after fresh diesel goes in and the filter gets cleaned or, if necessary, swapped. If the motor hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once our engineers arrive. The equipment is explosion-proof, so a busy filling station is no fault, and it is quiet enough for a residential street late at night.
The final step is to bleed your system on fresh diesel. Starting the car comes next, and then you set off from where the car is parked, by Swansea or on a driveway in Ty-coch. The test before our technicians go is that it runs properly on clean diesel. The whole job is done where your car is, so it never has to be taken to a workshop. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both at the end.
About Ty-coch
Ty-coch is a suburban area situated on the outskirts of Swansea, with a mix of semi-detached housing and local amenities. Ty-coch occupies a coastal location, approximately 2.1 miles from Swansea city centre, and is near other suburban areas such as Carnglas and Sketty. Ty-coch has a population of around 6411 residents and is set at an elevation of 102 metres, overlooking the surrounding coastline.
Ty-coch and Swansea: AdBlue drains across the area
AdBlue jobs around Ty-coch go to teams that serve the towns around it — Carnglas, Penyrheol as well as Sketty — and most of Swansea further out, across SA postcodes. Guessing doesn't help close to a border or somewhere hard to pin down; ring and ask.
No moving is needed. In Ty-coch, a residential suburb, a van that comes to you works: the car is emptied on the spot, whether in a driveway, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt.
Ty-coch: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
There is no honest single price, because the jobs are not the same. Three things move the price: whether your engine has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where your car is. That last one rests on whether a technician can reach it safely, and an open drive is simpler than a tight gap behind Sketty 7th Day Adventists.
What went in, what quantity, plus if it ran: each Ty-coch call begins with exactly those, ahead of any quote, not after. Given them, a range narrows to one fixed number.
Our quote is given during the call, before anyone sets off; payment happens on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. As our engineer is travelling, check your insurance: plenty cover misfuelling.
Ty-coch: still alongside the vehicle?
Then, the best thing to do with the vehicle is to not touch it. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest, across Ty-coch or wherever in Swansea, after you call 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, about how big an amount, and if the engine ran.