Ballymagorry: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Leave the engine and ignition off and call 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Around Ballymagorry, catching it before the motor runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. The remainder of this page explains why it takes place and how to ensure it doesn't — useful if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of newer diesels on the roads about Ballymagorry and Bready carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has its own filler. Plenty of vehicles share a single flap for both, whereas others move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, the diesel side gets filled constantly. Far less often, the AdBlue side is topped up — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. It is in that gap that the slip lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs in Ballymagorry
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out completely, your vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Crown Street before work, or in the car park at the pub in the village on the way home.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — yet a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's the second factor: an unfamiliar motor.
A spout-topped bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, after begun, keeps on. Whether it takes place in Artigarvan or the middle of Ballymagorry, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these first, on a forecourt around Ballymagorry or a drive out in Sion Mills. A few seconds, that's all.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue ones are often blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually don't.
- Plenty of vehicles fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler isn't by your diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at the nearest station? Ask the person who drove the car last before you set off, rather than once the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
The day the light goes on, wherever across County Tyrone, follow this routine.
- Pull in on level, motor off, with time in hand — never rushing on the side of Crom Street.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, yes, yet it does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where the two sit under a flap, make sure it is shut before lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting your car, shut the cap and look again that your diesel cap was never opened off.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Don't go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Ballymagorry?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the engine. Leave the ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels switching it on by itself runs the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
Ask the staff to help push your car away from the pump if you are at a forecourt — the the nearest petrol station, the another forecourt nearby or somewhere else. If you are on your own drive around Ballymagorry, leave it where it stands.
Already started? Stop when it is sensible, then turn off. On the M77, over 50 miles from Ballymagorry, that means the next junction. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Derry, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Ballymagorry.
When our technicians turn up in Ballymagorry, what takes place?
Anywhere your car came to rest, whether by the local primary school, beside the centre or at home, our van comes to it. Our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it's run, because those answers decide the work and our price. That price comes over the phone, before any van leaves.
After that: draining, then a full flush of the whole system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. Filter flushed or, where it must be, replaced; clean diesel in; then a test of your car. Before leaving, our technicians start the car and check that it is running correctly.
Unstarted cars usually need a half-hour visit after arrival. The kit is safe on a busy filling station, and quiet enough for a driveway late at night. The insurer will ask for the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both once the job is done. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. While we travel, have a look at your policy; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Ballymagorry itself
Ballymagorry is a small locality in County Tyrone, situated inland near the city of Derry. Ballymagorry sits at a low elevation of around 22 metres, close to the settlements of Artigarvan and Strabane. Ballymagorry is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its rural setting. Ballymagorry is located approximately 11 miles from Derry, making it a commuter base for the city.
AdBlue drains round Ballymagorry, and County Tyrone beyond
Ballymagorry is a small village, and the teams that cover it also work the towns near it, Strabane and Glenmornan among them, across the BT postcode area. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting BT82 0.
Shifting your car isn't necessary. The drain happens right there, be it a driveway, a road near a street just off the centre, or a layby towards the green space at the edge of the village. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of the far end of the built-up part.
Ballymagorry motorists: the short version
Pour no AdBlue till you have read the cap. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it where it is, wherever across County Tyrone: switch the car off and ring 0333 366 0103.