Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Ystrad Mynach
Engine off, ignition off: that's how you start if AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank. In plain terms, AdBlue is just urea in water. Being water-based, it won't burn and won't blend with diesel; damage just starts once the pump starts drawing it. If the motor hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually emptied and carefully cleaned where your car stands in Ystrad Mynach. Before you do anything else, phone 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Ystrad Mynach: the first few minutes
Do:
- Pull your keys out, so nobody switches the ignition on.
- Close to moving traffic? So put the hazards on.
- The empty bottle or the till receipt tells us the fluid and the amount, and so don't throw it out.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting CF82 7, or the name of the closest street, gets the van to you without a search.
Never:
- Shifting the vehicle just a few yards is no reason to start the engine.
- The ignition remains off: on many diesels, turning it on is enough to start the pump.
- AdBlue does not mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra fuel will not thin it.
- Don't drive it anywhere, not even a short distance along Bedwlwyn Road.
- By the road, do not attempt emptying it yourself.
The attendants on duty at any Ystrad Mynach filling station — the Petrol among them — will normally help rolling it clear if you ask. At your own driveway, do not move it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
The motor isn't what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to clean it. A fuel pump is not designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never intended to go through one.
Tipped in with the diesel, it keeps separate rather than blending — quite different from fuel. The pickup sucks fuel from the deepest part of that tank, and that is precisely where AdBlue ends up: as it is denser than diesel, it sinks. A motor topped up on a drive in Twyn Shon-Ifan yesterday evening and not started since counts as the simple case. No pump has pulled the AdBlue up so far — but once your engine turns, that's what goes first, directly from the bottom of that tank.
Once it's pulled in, the harm takes two forms. It attacks some metals found in fuel components, attacking any part it touches till it is removed completely. And when the water goes, the urea forms crystals that block filters and lodge in tiny passages. A vehicle left sitting around Ystrad Mynach with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank isn't. The water in it does damage of its own: your high-pressure pump and the injectors depend on diesel to lubricate them, and water offers them nothing.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is regularly more major than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the Texaco and you have a problem of thin fuel. Mixed through the diesel and sitting still, it's no threat at that stage; using the motor does the harm.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong substance. It does not burn, and so it cannot simply be run through. Crystals and corrosion remain through the next tankful, and AdBlue separates again from your diesel, so thinning it won't work. Hence the flush counts more, and turning your key "to see" costs more with AdBlue than nearly any other mistake — in Cefn Hengoed or the heart of Ystrad Mynach alike.
With AdBlue, the good news is no different from petrol. Wherever across Caerphilly your vehicle has come to rest, an unstarted motor leaves the AdBlue yet inside the tank: the easiest bit of a fuel system to clear.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Ystrad Mynach?
After dark, two caps side by side — the AdBlue one and the diesel cap, occasionally under one flap — may appear the same. Nobody intends it; plenty of layouts allow it. It usually takes place at home, from a bottle grabbed on the journey home, not at the filling station.
It tends to occur in a few familiar ways. Hurrying, outside the local primary school, after a warning light came on during the school run, a parent tops up the car. Someone pours the bottle in at home, just off Lisburn Road, as the day ends. Or the car is topped up in the car park at Ystrad Mynach Non Political Club, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
The least known vehicles see it most — rentals, new cars, fleet ones, and the other motor of a family with both fuels. Same slip, same first step — keep it off — anywhere you happen to be in Ystrad Mynach or the remainder of Caerphilly.
Ystrad Mynach: started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
The AdBlue has left the tank, then. It has been sucked through your filter and your lines, and if your motor ran for any time, it has got to the high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors.
Lumpy running, smoke, lost power, dashboard lights or cutting out: any might appear, maybe midway across Ystrad Mynach or coming back from Ystrad Mynach Park. No restarting to check: stop when it is safe, then switch it off. Each start pulls more of that through.
Ystrad Mynach sits under 10 miles from the M4; if you were on it, leave at the first junction and stop somewhere safe rather than carrying on.
Every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper into the system. That is why crossing Ystrad Mynach to park beside Ystrad Mynach Library and a drive of under 15 miles towards Newport are such separate jobs. Let us know about how far it had come.
There is more to clean out once the engine has run, and we do all of it where the vehicle has come to a stop. Very rarely does it leave long-term damage when it's caught quickly.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Ystrad Mynach?
A street by Sue Noake Leisure Centre, a driveway, a lay-by or a filling station: wherever the car has come to rest around Ystrad Mynach, we come to it. What was put in, about the quantity, and whether your engine has been run: our technicians check before all else, because those decide the job.
Then that tank is drained where your car waits, and so the polluted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, the flush matters: the fuel system is flushed right through since residue will not wash away unaided. Next, your filter: flushed, or replaced if it has to be. Then fresh diesel, and then a test of your car. Most of these jobs are a half-hour visit once our technicians arrive, if your engine hasn't run. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Last, the fuel system is primed with clean diesel. After that we fire it up and you set off, whether from a parking bay at the nearest station or a drive around Ystrad Mynach. It is checked on clean diesel to make sure it runs smoothly before our technicians leave. Our technicians do it all wherever your car has ended up, and it never needs to be taken to a workshop. At the end, you are given the paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer.
About Ystrad Mynach itself
Ystrad Mynach is a town situated in the Caerphilly county borough of Wales, located on the banks of a river at an elevation of around 110 metres. Ystrad Mynach lies near several smaller communities, including Tredomen, Hengoed, and Maesycwmmer, and is approximately 10.9 miles from the city of Newport. Ystrad Mynach has a population of around 10,363 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Ystrad Mynach is also within commuting distance of major cities, being around 133.8 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Caerphilly, Ystrad Mynach included
AdBlue call-outs in Ystrad Mynach go to teams that cover the places around it — Tredomen, Hengoed plus Maesycwmmer — and most of Caerphilly further out, across CF postcodes. Assuming doesn't help close to a county line or anywhere tricky to pin down; phone and check.
No towing is needed. In Ystrad Mynach, a riverside town, a van that comes to you works: your car is emptied where it stands, be it in a drive, a side street, a parking area or a forecourt.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Ystrad Mynach
Because the jobs vary, a flat figure wouldn't be honest. The cost moves first with how long, if at all, your engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that got in. After that it depends on where your car is and whether a technician can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open drive than in a tight gap behind Holy Trinity.
For that reason, each call from Ystrad Mynach begins with the same trio — what got in, how much, if it ran — ahead of any figure. Those replies shrink the range right down to a single number.
Quoted on the call before the van sets out, it is settled that day — card or phone, no deposit. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van arrives.
Next to your car in Ystrad Mynach, still?
Right now, the most helpful thing to do with the car is to not touch it. Keys out, engine off, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, across Ystrad Mynach or anywhere in Caerphilly, after you call 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, about how big an amount, and whether the engine ran.