Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Aughnacloy: Why It Happens
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page down for now, keep your ignition and motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Aughnacloy. Reading in advance? In that case the rest covers why it comes about and how to prevent it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Many modern diesels around Caledon, like those in Aughnacloy, carry on two liquids; your motor gets only your diesel. Your exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the fumes to fresh them, from its own tank.
Different tanks, different fillers. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less regularly, usually from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. Mistakes happen in that gap between them.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs in Aughnacloy
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the car drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Heugh Road before work, or in the car park outside the pub in the village on the way home.
Then the vehicle is new. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, after started, carries on. Carnteel or the heart of Aughnacloy: it is the same few seconds either way.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Eglish or a forecourt in Aughnacloy, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of motors, the AdBlue one.
- Open the filler flap and check for a label — plenty of vehicles show which belongs in each filler just there.
- Cannot see it beside the diesel filler? Then look beneath the bonnet or inside your boot — the handbook will say which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at the nearest station, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across County Tyrone that is.
- Turn off once parked — level ground, motor stopped, and never in a rush beside Chalet Road on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Find at the second or third stage that the bottle went in the diesel filler? That's where you stop. Never carry on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Aughnacloy?
Do not start your engine: that's how the short order of things begins. The fuel pump runs on many diesels the moment the ignition is switched on — so keep it off. Diluting it with more diesel won't work, because AdBlue settles to the base rather than mixing — and that's where the fuel is drawn from.
The staff at the nearest petrol station, another forecourt nearby or any forecourt will usually help to push your car clear if you ask. If you are on your own drive around Aughnacloy, leave it where it stands.
Where the motor has run already, pull over safely and turn the vehicle off. Leave the M77 — over 50 miles out of Aughnacloy — at the first exit. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Aughnacloy is smaller a job than a trip of under 15 miles towards Armagh, so tell us.
What occurs when we arrive around Aughnacloy
We come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside the local primary school, near the centre or on your own driveway. Our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and if it's run, since the answers determine this work and the quote. That quote is given on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Then that tank is cleared and the fuel system cleaned thoroughly. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. The filter cleaned or, if needed, swapped; fresh diesel in; then a check of your car. After that our technicians fire it up and check it runs properly before we leave.
Unrun cars mostly mean a half-hour job after arrival. The equipment is safe on a busy forecourt, and quiet enough for a driveway late at night. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. It is worth checking your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Aughnacloy and where it is
Aughnacloy is a small locality in County Tyrone, situated inland at an elevation of around 60 metres. Aughnacloy is located near the towns of Carnteel, Ballygawley, and Augher, and is approximately 13.6 miles from the city of Armagh. Aughnacloy has a population of around 1064 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Aughnacloy is also relatively distant from major cities, with London being around 348.4 miles away.
AdBlue drains about Aughnacloy, and County Tyrone beyond
Aughnacloy is a small village, and our vans that cover it also work the towns around it, Ballygawley and Augher among them, across the BT postcode area. A postcode starting BT69 6 gets our van to you fastest.
The car stays where it is. Draining takes place right there, whether a drive, a street by a street just off the centre, or a layby on the way to the green space at the edge of the village. If you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of the far end of the built-up part, ring and ask rather than guessing.
The short version for Aughnacloy people
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in County Tyrone, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — and so leave the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103.