AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Armagh? Keep It Switched Off
If AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank, leave your engine off then keep the ignition off. Urea mixed in water is what AdBlue is. It doesn't burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the damage it does starts when the fuel system pulls it in. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Armagh, is generally what AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before your motor has been run. Before you do anything else, ring 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank around Armagh
Things to do:
- Keys out — that way no one can switch anything on.
- Put the hazard lights on if you are anywhere close to moving traffic.
- Hold on to your receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what got in and about how much.
- Ring right where you are. Quote a BT61 7 postcode or the closest street name, and nobody has to search for you.
Things not to do:
- Not even for a second, and not to roll the vehicle: your engine stays off.
- Plenty of diesels power their pump the instant the ignition goes on, and so leave the vehicle off.
- No more fuel added. The AdBlue won't mix, and so it's pointless.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, even a short distance up Heugh Road.
- No draining it yourself, at all, at the verge.
At a forecourt around Armagh, whether it's the the nearest petrol station or another one, ask the attendants to help you push the car clear of the pump. On the drive, the car remains just where it was left.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Made for your exhaust, AdBlue has no business in your motor. From a separate tank it goes straight to the exhaust, treating what your engine lets out. Nothing inside a fuel pump is made for this liquid — and none of it was intended to travel through one.
Poured in with the diesel, it keeps separate instead of blending — quite different from fuel. It drops, since it is heavier than diesel, and settles down where the intake takes its fuel from. A vehicle filled on a drive in Ballymacnab overnight and left unstarted counts as the simple case. No pump has pulled the AdBlue up so far — though once the engine runs, that is what is pulled first, straight from the bottom of the tank.
Two kinds of harm come from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that hardens in filter elements and tiny channels; meanwhile, since it eats at certain metals, every part it reaches keeps suffering for as long as it remains inside. Overnight, a vehicle sitting in Armagh with AdBlue in its lines gets worse; if it is only in that tank, it doesn't. Water lubricates nothing. The high-pressure pump and every injector need diesel flowing through them, so the water part harms them in its own right.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's commonly worse than petrol
A problem of thinned fuel is what you end up with after filling a diesel with petrol from the another forecourt nearby. Blended through your diesel and left still, it is harmless at that stage; running the engine is the harm.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally unsuitable substance. It cannot just be run through, because it doesn't burn. It does not stay mixed, so it can't be thinned. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the engine "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether the car is in Richhill or the middle of Armagh.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Emptying a tank is the simplest part on any fuel system, and without running, the AdBlue stays in there — anywhere around County Armagh your vehicle sits.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Armagh
Plenty of vehicles put the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel one, now and then behind one flap, and in dim light the two can look the same. No one intends it. A bottle picked up while driving home and poured in at home, rather than at the filling station, is the typical route.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside the local primary school the top-up is hurried. Someone pours the bottle in outside their house, just off Dunskey Street, as the day ends. Or someone unfamiliar with that flap refills the car after dark, stopped in the car park outside the pub in the village.
It takes place most in the vehicles people know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. An identical mistake, an identical first response — leave it switched off — wherever you happen to be in Armagh or the rest of County Armagh.
Started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Armagh?
The AdBlue has left that tank, then. The filter and pipework have had it pulled through, and some running time takes it on to the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Maybe coming back from the green space at the edge of the village, or midway across Armagh, your engine may run lumpy, smoke, lose power, light up the dash or cut out. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart the car to check. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
If you were on the M77, over 50 miles from Armagh, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere sensible rather than pressing on.
Each mile carries the AdBlue further into the system. That is why a hop across Armagh to park near the centre and a drive of under 25 miles towards Newry are very distinct jobs. Let us know about how far it had come.
Our engineers do all of the flushing where the car has stopped, and once the engine has run there is more of it. If it is noticed early, permanent damage is very rare.
What draining AdBlue from a diesel involves around Armagh
We come to the car, wherever it has stopped in Armagh: a side street near a street just off the centre, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Three replies shape the work, so before anything else our engineers ask which fluid got in, roughly what quantity, plus whether your motor has run.
On the spot, the tank is then drained, and all of the polluted diesel and the urea come out as one. Residue from AdBlue will not flush out unaided, so the whole system gets a careful flush, which counts far more here than with petrol. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. If the engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once our technicians arrive. Explosion-proof pumps mean a busy forecourt sensible to work on, and they're quiet enough not to disturb the street at night.
The final step is to bleed the fuel system on fresh diesel. At that point our engineers fire it up and you head off, whether from a parking bay outside the nearest station or a drive around Armagh. It is tested on new diesel to be sure it runs correctly before we go. As the job is done in full where your car is, a garage never comes into it. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report afterwards, which is what insurers ask for.
About Armagh itself
Armagh is a city located inland in Northern Ireland, serving as the main town of County Armagh. It holds significant religious importance, being the base for the leaders of both the Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland faiths. The city is also notable for its historic buildings, including two prominent cathedrals, and its connection to ancient sites like Navan Fort. Armagh is further distinguished by its observatory and well-preserved Georgian-style buildings.
AdBlue drains across Armagh and County Armagh
Edenaveys, Milford and Lisnadill are among the towns around Armagh that the same teams serve, along with much of County Armagh further out, throughout the BT postcode area. Guessing doesn't help by a county line or anywhere hard to pin down; ring and check.
A mobile service suits Armagh, a cathedral city: there's no need to bring the car to us, since we empty it on the spot, in a driveway, a side street, a parking area or a filling station.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out around Armagh?
There is no fair single quote, since the jobs aren't the same. Three things change the cost: whether your engine has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue got in, and where your car is. That last one turns on whether a technician can reach it safely, and an open drive is easier than a tight gap behind the far end of the built-up part.
What went in, how much, plus whether it ran: each Armagh call begins with precisely that, ahead of a quote, not after. The answers turn a range into a straight price.
You get that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van gets there.
Next to the vehicle in Armagh, still?
Then the most helpful thing you can do is nothing to the vehicle. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, across Armagh or wherever within County Armagh, once you ring 0333 366 0103 to say it's AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and if the engine ran.