AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Welsh St Donats: What Now?
Has the engine run since the AdBlue was put in? That single point decides almost everything else from here. Not run so far? Then keep it that way, wherever the vehicle is — Welsh St Donats or Ystradowen. Ring 0333 366 0103 with your key and motor still off. Across Welsh St Donats, such a case is typically emptied and flushed where it stands. If it has run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Step one stays unchanged, even though the work grows.
Below: the cases our engineers meet, wherever across The Vale of Glamorgan. Choose the one that fits.
At the petrol pump in Welsh St Donats: AdBlue in a diesel
Only now, nozzle yet in your hand, it dawns on you that the cap you took off was the wrong one, right at the petrol pump. It might be the Esso, or the Murco, or a different station in Welsh St Donats.
Meaning? Finding out here is as good as it gets. Still in that tank, with no fuel drawn onwards: that is where the AdBlue sits.
What to do: don't get back in and fire it up to clear the pump. Ask the staff to help you push the car into a parking spot, keep the till receipt or the bottle, and ring us from the forecourt. The equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a busy forecourt, so a car that can't be pushed clear is emptied where it is at the pump.
Welsh St Donats, at home: AdBlue in your diesel tank
For days the dashboard had been warning you. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the driveway, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look once more at the cap. It happens on drives just off Watery Lane as regularly as anywhere.
Meaning? Provided the vehicle has not moved since, it is second to the pump case. At the floor of that tank sits where AdBlue stays, since it will not blend with diesel — and a night going by changes no difference.
Your move: the keys in the house, so nobody takes the car off first thing. Then, phone. Our engineers drain the car on your driveway, whether that's in Welsh St Donats or out in Prisk. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Welsh St Donats: set off with AdBlue in a diesel?
Topped up, drove away, and soon your motor was running unevenly, smoking, losing power, or flashing up your dash. Maybe it was on Sandy Lane, perhaps on the way out towards Cardiff, under 10 miles away.
Meaning? The pump has sucked the AdBlue up. Mileage sets how far it gets: filter and pipework first, then the high-pressure pump and every injector. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Next: find a sensible place, pull in, and turn the motor off. On the M4, under 3 miles from Welsh St Donats, that means the next exit, not the services further on. Don't restart it to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Phone, and say how far the car went.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You have just driven the car a week. The AdBlue filler is right beside the diesel filler, which you didn't know, because your own motor either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Anyone, anywhere in The Vale of Glamorgan, could do it.
The upshot: just as above, split by whether it ran, only with one added step. Plenty of hire and fleet agreements need the owner's sign-off before repairs.
Next: phone the rental company or your fleet manager first, then us — settling it before our arrival is faster. Waiting for a reply at the car park at Pontyclun, or near St. Donat's Church? Leave your engine off meanwhile.
Welsh St Donats: unsure whether it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
"I think so" is often the most honest as it gets. What cap came off, you can't say; but the bottle feels less than it ought to, and a whiff of ammonia hangs by the filler. The gates of the local primary school in a rush, perhaps, or a friend's driveway out in Trerhyngyll.
The upshot: the engine isn't harmed by a little AdBlue spilled on the filler. In the diesel tank, by contrast, AdBlue damages it. Any AdBlue in that tank would be pulled in by starting the car, and the start would not settle which it is in any case.
What to do: treat it as if it was put in. Do not start it. Call us and describe what you saw; we would rather check a tank that turns out free of AdBlue than drain one that has already been run.
Every AdBlue drain around Welsh St Donats shares these stages
Whichever situation you are in, this job starts the same way. Three things come once our technicians arrive — on a forecourt, a drive, a street beside Llanquian Castle or the car park outside the pub in the village: the liquid, the quantity, and whether the motor has run. Your price comes over the phone, before a van leaves, and those replies set the work.
Then your tank is cleared and the fuel system cleaned thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't rinse out on its own. Finally come your filter, flushed or renewed if necessary; fresh diesel; and a check of your vehicle. Most unrun vehicles are a half-hour job from the moment our technicians get there.
Starting the car comes at the end. Our test that it runs smoothly on clean diesel comes before our engineers leave. When it's caught soon, the car very seldom has lasting damage, and the entire job happens where it is. Nothing is paid upfront, payment is made on the day, and you receive what the insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Welsh St Donats and where it is
Welsh St Donats is a small village in the Vale of Glamorgan, situated inland at an elevation of around 115 metres. Welsh St Donats lies approximately 9.7 miles west of Cardiff and is surrounded by nearby villages such as Prisk, Maendy, and Aberthin. Welsh St Donats has a population of around 526 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing.
AdBlue drains round Welsh St Donats and across The Vale of Glamorgan
Welsh St Donats is a rural village, and the same teams that cover it work the towns around it too, Maendy and Aberthin among them, across the CF postcode area. A postcode starting CF71 7 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Central Welsh St Donats or a lay-by near Coed Pen-y-ffordd-fawr: wherever it sits, the car never needs to move at all for us. Draining happens right there. Ring and check instead of guessing if you're by Aberthin Village Hall, near a boundary, or anywhere tricky to pin down.
Your situation, in one line
Not run yet: keep the vehicle off then call. Run by now: stop, power down, phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest, within Welsh St Donats or anywhere across The Vale of Glamorgan.