AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Bangor? Keep It Switched Off
If AdBlue has got into the diesel tank, keep your motor off then keep the ignition off. Urea mixed in water is all AdBlue is. It doesn't burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the harm it does begins when the system draws it in. In Bangor, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before your motor runs normally comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, just where the car is. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
What to do right now, Bangor: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Do:
- Take your keys out, and so no one switches your ignition on.
- If you are at all near moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- The empty bottle or the till receipt tells us the fluid and the quantity, so do not throw it out.
- Give us a postcode starting BT20 4, or whatever street lies nearest, and our van reaches you straight — so call wherever you are.
Things not to do:
- Don't start the engine, even for a moment to move your car.
- Do not switch the ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- AdBlue does not dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra diesel will not thin it.
- Leave the car where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short stretch up Heugh Road.
- No draining it yourself, at all, on the verge.
On a forecourt in Bangor, whether it is the the nearest petrol station or another one, ask the attendants to help you roll your car clear of the pump. On your own driveway, don't touch it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
The motor isn't what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. Stored in a dedicated tank, it's injected into the exhaust to treat the gases. A fuel pump isn't designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to travel through one.
Tipped in with your diesel, it keeps apart rather than blending — quite unlike fuel. Heavier than diesel, it sinks and pools below it — the same spot the pickup draws from. The first thing your fuel system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a vehicle that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Conlig last night, and has not been started since, is still the straightforward case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has sucked it in.
It does two kinds of damage from there. What remains once the water goes is urea, which forms crystals: they lodge in narrow passages and block filters. On top of that, it attacks certain metals in the fuel system, and keeps going till it's cleared out. Overnight, a vehicle parked around Bangor with AdBlue through its pipework gets worse; where it is just inside your tank, it doesn't. Diesel protects the injection pump and each injector as it flows; water offers no lubrication, and that is a separate kind of harm.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is regularly more major than petrol
A problem of thin fuel is what you get from filling a diesel with petrol at the another forecourt nearby. No damage comes while it stays put, mixed into the diesel — only when the motor works on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different problem: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. It cannot just be run through, since it does not burn. It does not stay mixed, so it cannot be thinned. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the motor "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether your car is in Newtownards or the middle of Bangor.
With AdBlue, the good news is no different from petrol. Anywhere around County Down the car has come to rest, an unrun motor leaves the AdBlue still inside the tank: the easiest bit of any fuel system to empty.
Bangor: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
Plenty of vehicles put the AdBlue cap beside the diesel one, now and then behind one flap, and in dim light the two can look identical. No one intends it. Usually it's never the forecourt: a driver buys a container driving home and tips it in at home.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside the local primary school the top-up is hurried. Near Dunskey Street, someone tips a bottle in at home in the evening. Or your car is topped up in the car park outside the pub in the village, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
The least known cars see it the most — hire cars, brand-new cars, fleet ones, and the spare car of a home with one of each fuel types. Wherever you are in Bangor or the rest of County Down, it's the same mistake and the same first answer: leave it off.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Bangor?
The AdBlue has left the tank, then. Via the fuel filter, through the lines, and — given any running — into the injection pump and each injector: that is how far it has gone.
Rough running, smoke from the exhaust, dropping power, dashboard lights or cutting out: any might appear, perhaps part way across Bangor or coming back from the green space at the edge of the village. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart the vehicle to check. More of it is pulled through with each start.
Leave the M77, over 50 miles from Bangor, by the first junction and stop safely, not driving on.
How far it went matters. A couple of hundred yards across Bangor to the car park by the centre is a very different job from a run towards Belfast, under 15 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the system with every mile. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
Wherever your car came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to flush after your engine has been running. Caught early, it very rarely leaves long-term damage.
Bangor: how AdBlue is drained from a diesel
The vehicle stays put, whether that's a street beside a street just off the centre, a driveway, a layby or a forecourt in Bangor, and our van comes to it. Three answers decide the job, and so first our engineers ask what went in, roughly the amount, and if the engine has run.
Next, draining that tank right there removes the polluted diesel along with the AdBlue in one go. The system is cleaned thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. Testing the car follows at the end, once clean diesel goes in and the filter is flushed or, where necessary, swapped. Engine not run? In that case count on roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. The pumping gear is explosion-proof, so a busy filling station is no issue, and it is hushed enough for a residential street after dark.
Fresh diesel goes in to prime the system, and that is the last step. Starting the car comes next, and then you set off from where the car is parked, by the nearest station or on a drive in Bangor. It's checked on clean diesel to make sure it runs correctly before our technicians go. Because the job is done in its entirety where the vehicle is, a garage never comes into it. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report later on, which is what insurers ask for.
About Bangor itself
Bangor is a coastal town in County Down, Northern Ireland, situated on the southern shore of Belfast Lough. Bangor sits at an elevation of 21 metres, looking out across the lough to the Antrim Hills. Bangor is a commuter town for nearby Belfast, with many residents making the short journey to the city for work. Bangor has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are particularly prevalent in the town.
AdBlue drains around Bangor and across County Down
AdBlue jobs in Bangor are passed to teams that cover the towns near it — Groomsport, Crawfordsburn plus Helens Bay — and much of County Down beyond, throughout BT postcodes. Assuming won't help by a border or anywhere tricky to describe; phone and ask.
Bangor is a coastal town, and a call-out drain suits it: whether your car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our technicians drain it where it is, so it never needs to be shifted to us.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out around Bangor?
Every job differs, so not one fixed price would be fair. The price moves first with how long, if at all, your engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that was put in. After that it depends on where your car is and whether a van can reach it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight spot behind the far end of the built-up part.
What was put in, what quantity, and if the engine ran: every Bangor call opens with precisely those, before any quote, never afterwards. With those replies, a range narrows to a single firm figure.
Before a van sets off, you are told the quote on the phone. Then payment is on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Look at your policy whilst we're on the way: many carry misfuelling cover.
Bangor: still alongside the vehicle?
Then, touch nothing — that's the most helpful step there is. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, plus whether it ran is everything our engineers need. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder across County Down, Bangor too.