AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Ballykinler: What Now?
Has your engine turned over since the AdBlue got in? That single question settles almost everything else from here. Out in Seaforde or here in Ballykinler, an unstarted motor must remain that way. Keep nothing on, phone 0333 366 0103, and expect a proper flush after a drain, done just where the vehicle sits around Ballykinler. Where your engine has been run, stop somewhere safe straight away, then turn it off. The job is bigger, but the first stage is the same.
Find the situation below that matches yours, wherever across County Down it happened.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Ballykinler forecourt
Picture it: standing by the pump, holding the nozzle, you spot the cap you took off was not the correct one. It might be the the nearest petrol station, or perhaps the another forecourt nearby, or another station in Ballykinler.
The point: of all places to notice, the forecourt is the best. No pump has drawn it in, so the AdBlue sits only in that tank.
Do this: keep out of the car, however much the queue needs freeing. Ring us from the forecourt after the vehicle is in a bay — the attendants will lend a hand to roll it — and keep the receipt. The equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a live forecourt, and so a vehicle that cannot be pushed away is emptied right at the petrol pump.
AdBlue in the diesel tank at home in Ballykinler
For days the dash had been nagging you. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the drive, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look a second time at the cap. Driveways near B7065 get it as much as anywhere.
Meaning? As long as your vehicle has not moved since, it is second to the pump case. As it is unable to mix, AdBlue settles low inside your tank and waits. A night standing alters nothing.
Keep your keys indoors overnight — otherwise a person may take it off at breakfast — then phone us. We drain the vehicle on your drive, whether that is around Ballykinler or out in Ballymartin. Even at night, the pumps stay quiet enough for a residential street.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving around Ballykinler?
A short way beyond filling up, your engine began playing up: rough running, smoke, less power, warnings on the dash. Maybe it was on High Row, maybe on the way out towards Lisburn, under 25 miles away.
The point: the system has drawn AdBlue through already. Past the filter, through the pipework, and — the more the mileage — deeper into the injection pump and each injector. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Next: pick a sensible place, stop, and turn the engine off. Services further along are too far: from the M77, over 50 miles out of Ballykinler, take the next junction. Do not restart the car to see if it has cleared; it will not have. About how far did it gone? Say so as you phone.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You've only driven the car a week. Your own vehicle either has no AdBlue or keeps it elsewhere, and so no one told you the AdBlue inlet was right beside the diesel. Any driver, wherever in County Down, might do the same.
The point: exactly as above, split by if it ran, but with one added stage. Plenty of hire and company contracts want the owner to approve work on the vehicle.
Settling it before the van turn up is quicker, and so phone the rental company or your fleet manager, then us. If you are stuck in the car park at the nearest station, or by the centre, while you wait for an answer, leave the car off.
Ballykinler: unsure if it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Honestly, the only answer may be that you think so. Which cap was taken off, you cannot recall; meanwhile the bottle feels less than it ought to, and ammonia hangs by your filler. Perhaps it happened in a hurry at the school gates at the local primary school, or on a friend's drive in Newcastle.
In short: spillage round your filler does the engine unharmed. AdBlue inside your diesel tank does. Starting your car will not tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in that tank it would suck it in.
What to do: treat it as if it got in. Do not start it. Phone and give what you saw: we would rather confirm a clean tank than drain one once the engine has run.
Each AdBlue drain in Ballykinler shares these steps
The job begins identically, whichever your case. Three things come when our engineers reach your car — on a filling station, a drive, a street beside a street just off the centre or the car park outside the pub in the village: the fluid, the quantity, and whether the motor has been started. Answers set the work; the price comes on the call whilst no one has left yet.
Then that tank is cleared and the fuel system purged thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not rinse out on its own. Next is the filter — cleaned, or replaced where necessary — followed by clean diesel, and a test of your car. The majority of unrun vehicles are a half-hour job from the moment our technicians arrive.
We fire it up at the end. Before our engineers go, it's tested to make sure it runs correctly on fresh diesel. The whole job is done where your car is, and if it is noticed early, long-term damage is very unusual. Payment comes on the day, never in advance. For your insurer, you get a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer. It is worth remembering: lots of insurers offer misfuelling cover, and so a quick look at your policy as we travel pays.
About Ballykinler itself
Ballykinler is a small coastal locality in County Down, situated near the towns of Ballymartin and Dundrum. Ballykinler lies at a low elevation of around 8 metres, close to the shores of the Irish Sea. Ballykinler is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its role as a residential area with some scenic coastal views.
AdBlue drains round Ballykinler and across County Down
Ballykinler is a coastal area, and the same teams that cover it work the places around it too, Dundrum and Clough among them, across the BT postcode area. A postcode starting BT30 8 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Whether your car is on a lay-by on the way to the green space at the edge of the village or in a car park in the middle of Ballykinler, it doesn't need to shift. Wherever it stands, that is where it is drained. If you're somewhere hard to explain, near the far end of the built-up part or close to a boundary, ring and ask rather than assuming.
In one line: your situation
Still unrun? Leave the vehicle that way and phone. Run already: stop, power down, ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, within Ballykinler or anywhere in County Down.