AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Whitland? Keep It Switched Off
If AdBlue has got into the diesel tank, keep the motor off and keep the ignition off. Water with urea mixed in it: that's AdBlue. The trouble starts once it's sucked through the pump — it will not burn, and it won't combine with diesel. A drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Whitland, is usually all AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before your engine has run. Phone 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank in Whitland
To do:
- Keys out — that way no one can switch anything on.
- Put your hazards on if you are anywhere close to moving traffic.
- Which product, and about how much volume? Save the bottle or the till receipt, and our technicians can see.
- Our van locates you quickest with a postcode starting SA34 0, or simply the name of a street close by, so call from the spot.
Not to do:
- Do not start the motor, even for a moment to shift the vehicle.
- The ignition remains off: on many diesels, turning it on is enough to run your pump.
- Pouring in more diesel doesn't help: AdBlue separates out rather than blending.
- Even a short distance along Market Street is too far to drive the car.
- No draining it yourself, either, at the roadside.
Rolling the car off the pumps is a job for attendants to help with, whichever Whitland forecourt you're on, the Preseli Filling Station or any other. On your own drive, do not touch it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not the motor. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to fresh it. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is designed to handle it.
It does not blend. After it's tipped into the tank, AdBlue behaves not at all like diesel. It drops, because it's heavier than diesel, and pools low where the pickup takes its fuel from. The first thing the fuel system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a motor that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Cwmfelin-boeth last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of your tank, and nothing has sucked it in.
From there it does two kinds of damage. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it strands urea that crystallises in filter elements and tiny channels; and, because it attacks some metals, each part it reaches suffers for as long as it remains in there. A motor left standing in Whitland with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank isn't. The water in it does damage of its own: the high-pressure fuel pump and your injectors depend on diesel to lubricate them, and water offers them nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's commonly worse than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol in error at the Texaco, and this problem is diluted fuel. Blended into your diesel and sitting still, it's harmless at that stage; using your motor does the damage.
AdBlue in a diesel is another problem: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. It can't simply be run through, since it doesn't burn. Nor can it be thinned, since it splits again — and the following fill will not clear away crystals or corrosion. So the flush counts for more with AdBlue, and turning the key "to see", in the heart of Whitland or out in Pont-y-Fenni, does more harm than nearly any other slip.
With AdBlue, the good news is no different from petrol. Never started? Then the AdBlue sits just in your tank, the easiest bit of the whole system to clear, anywhere your vehicle has come to rest in Carmarthenshire.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Whitland
In dim light, two caps together — the AdBlue one and the diesel cap, now and then behind a single flap — can appear the same. Nobody intends it; many layouts invite it. A bottle picked up when driving home and poured in outside the house, rather than at the forecourt, is the typical route.
A couple of familiar ways cover the majority of them. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside the local primary school the top-up is rushed. Near King Edward Street, someone tips a container in on the drive in the evening. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park at Station House, in poor light, by a person who has never opened that flap before.
It crops up most in a rental, a brand-new vehicle, a fleet vehicle, or the spare motor of a home with one of each fuels — the cars people know least. Wherever you are around Whitland or the remainder of Carmarthenshire, it is the same error and the same first answer: leave the vehicle off.
Whitland: started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. It's been pulled through your filter and the lines, and if the engine ran for any time, it has reached the high-pressure pump and your injectors.
Perhaps returning from Parc Dr Owen, or midway across Whitland, the motor may go rough, smoke, lose power, light up your dash or stall. No starting it again to check: stop once it is safe, then switch everything off. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
If you were on the M4, under 25 miles from Whitland, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere sensible rather than pressing on.
A quick hop across Whitland to the car park by Canolfan Hywel Dda Centre is one thing; heading towards St Davids, under 50 miles away, is another, since each mile pushes the AdBlue further in. So mileage matters. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Once the engine has run, the flush takes in more, and all of it is done where the vehicle has ended up. Lasting damage is very uncommon when it is caught soon.
What clearing AdBlue from a diesel involves around Whitland
A road beside Neuadd Y Dref, a driveway, a lay-by or a filling station: wherever the vehicle has come to rest in Whitland, our engineers come to it. Which fluid was put in, about how much, plus whether the engine has turned over: our technicians check first, because those decide the job.
Then that tank is drained where the vehicle waits, so the tainted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. A full flush counts much more with AdBlue than after petrol, because residue will not wash out on its own. A test of the vehicle comes last, once fresh diesel is added and the filter gets flushed or, where needed, swapped. If the engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once our engineers are there. Explosion-proof pumps make a live forecourt safe to work on, and they run quiet enough not to disturb the neighbours at night.
Priming your system with new diesel comes at the end. Whether it's a parking space outside the nearest station or a driveway in Whitland, that is where our technicians fire it up and you head off. The test before our technicians go is that it runs correctly on new diesel. No workshop is needed at any stage, with the whole job done then and there. Your insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — each handed over afterwards.
About Whitland and where it is
Whitland is a small town in Carmarthenshire, situated on the River Taf, with a mix of detached housing and local amenities. Whitland sits at a low elevation of 19 metres, near the villages of Trevaughan and Llwyn-y-brain. Whitland is located close to the High Street and is surrounded by the Welsh countryside, with St Davids city approximately 28 miles away. Whitland has a population of around 1907 people, living in a range of detached homes.
Whitland and Carmarthenshire: AdBlue drains across the area
The vans that answer AdBlue jobs in Whitland also cover the locations around it, Trevaughan, Llwyn-y-brain and High Street among them, and most of Carmarthenshire beyond, across the SA postcode area. If you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask instead of assuming.
No towing is needed. In Whitland, a riverside town, a mobile service works: the car is emptied where it stands, be it on a drive, a side street, a parking area or a filling station.
Whitland: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Each job is different, and so not one single quote would be fair. Three things shift the cost: whether your engine has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where the vehicle is. That last one comes down to whether our van can get to it safely, and an open driveway is simpler than a tight gap behind Tabernacl Welsh Independent Chapel.
That is why each call from Whitland starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what was put in, how much, and whether it's run. Those answers turn a range into a straight quote.
You hear that quote by phone, before anyone heads out, and you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
Whitland: still beside the vehicle?
In that case, touch nothing — that's the best step available. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, and whether it ran are everything we need. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder throughout Carmarthenshire, Whitland too.