AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Bushmills? Keep It Switched Off
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, the ignition remains off and so does your motor. Urea mixed in water is what AdBlue is. The trouble starts once it's pulled through the lines — it will not ignite, and it won't combine with diesel. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Bushmills, is normally all AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before your motor has been run. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank in Bushmills
To do:
- So nobody can turn the ignition on, take the keys out.
- If you're at all near moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- The empty bottle or the till receipt tells us the product and the quantity, and so do not bin it out.
- The van locates you fastest with a postcode starting BT57 8, or just the name of a street nearby, so call from the spot.
Things not to do:
- No starting your engine — not briefly, not to reposition the 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 more diesel will not weaken it.
- Leave the vehicle where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short stretch up Frederick Crescent.
- Beside the road, don't attempt draining it on your own.
The staff working at any Bushmills forecourt — the the nearest petrol station among them — will usually help rolling it aside if you ask. On your own driveway, don't touch it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Not the engine but your exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. From a separate tank it goes directly to your exhaust, treating what the motor lets out. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is built to handle it.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, after poured in, won't. The behaviour is nothing like fuel's. Denser than diesel, it sinks and pools below it — the very place the intake sucks from. A motor topped up on a drive in Ballyrashane yesterday evening and not started since is the straightforward one. No pump has sucked the AdBlue up so far — but when the motor runs, that is what is pulled first, straight from the bottom of that tank.
Two kinds of harm follow from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it leaves urea that hardens in filter elements and tiny passages; and, because it attacks certain metals, each part it reaches suffers for as long as it stays inside. Lines holding AdBlue spell damage by morning for a car parked in Bushmills. Just in the tank, it stays the same. The water in it causes damage of its own: the high-pressure fuel pump and your injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is frequently worse
Petrol put into a diesel on another forecourt nearby's forecourt makes the fuel thin — that is the main fault. Damage just comes from driving on it. Mixed into the diesel and sitting inside the tank, it does none.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong liquid. It does not burn, so it cannot just be run through. Nor can it be watered down, since it splits again — and the following tankful won't clear away deposits or corrosion. So the flush counts for more with AdBlue, and trying your engine "to see", in the heart of Bushmills or out in Moss-Side, does more harm than almost any other mistake.
The same good news holds as with petrol. Emptying a tank is the simplest job on a fuel system, and with no start-up, the AdBlue stays in there — wherever across County Antrim the vehicle has stopped.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Bushmills
It's not deliberate. Many vehicles have the AdBlue cap beside the diesel inlet, now and then under a single flap, and muddling them up is simple after dark. It usually happens at home, from a bottle bought en route home, not at the forecourt.
A couple of familiar ways account for most cases. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside the local primary school the refill is rushed. In the evening, a container is tipped in on a drive near Pier Road. Or a driver new to that flap refills the car after dark, parked in the car park by the pub in the village.
It takes place most in the vehicles drivers know least: a hire car, a new motor, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. An identical mistake, same first step — keep it off — wherever you are around Bushmills or the rest of County Antrim.
Started the motor with AdBlue in the diesel tank in Bushmills?
Then the AdBlue has left your tank. The fuel filter and lines have had it sucked through, and some running carries it on to the injection pump and every injector.
You may see your engine running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, possibly on the way back from the green space at the edge of the village or halfway across Bushmills. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart the vehicle to check. Each start pulls more of it through.
If you were on the M77, over 50 miles from Bushmills, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere sensible rather than pressing on.
How far it went matters. A couple of hundred yards across Bushmills to the car park by the centre is a very different job from a run towards Derry, under 50 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into your system with every mile. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
Wherever the vehicle came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to flush after the motor has been started. Spotted quickly, it very seldom leaves permanent damage.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Bushmills?
Anywhere it has come to rest around Bushmills — a forecourt, a layby, a drive, a road beside a street just off the centre — the van comes to the car. The job depends on three replies, and our technicians ask for before all else — which fluid got in, the quantity, and if your engine has turned over.
The contaminated diesel and the urea come out as one when the tank is emptied, on the spot. The fuel system is flushed thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. Fresh diesel goes in once your filter is cleaned — or swapped, when it needs to be — and after that your car is tested. Roughly half an hour on site is usual for most jobs when the motor hasn't run. Low-noise enough for use outside a house at night, and safe on a busy forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
The last step is to prime the fuel system on new diesel. After that our engineers start the car and you drive off, whether from a parking bay by the nearest station or a driveway in Bushmills. Our technicians check it runs properly on clean diesel before we leave. The entire job is done where the vehicle is, so it never has to be taken to a garage. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report after that, which is what insurers ask for.
About Bushmills, for a moment
Bushmills is a small coastal locality in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, situated near the Giant's Causeway and looking out to the Atlantic Ocean. Bushmills sits at a low elevation of around 12 metres, with the surrounding landscape dominated by the distinctive coastline of north Antrim. Bushmills is close to other nearby places such as Portballintrae and Portrush, and is within commuting distance of Derry. Bushmills has a mix of housing types, but terraced housing is predominant in the area.
AdBlue drains across Bushmills and County Antrim
Portballintrae, Dunseverick and Portrush are among the places near Bushmills that the same vans serve, together with much of County Antrim beyond, throughout the BT postcode area. Assuming won't help close to a border or anywhere hard to describe; phone and check.
No moving is needed. In Bushmills, a coastal area, a van that comes to you works: the vehicle is drained where it stands, be it on a drive, a side street, a parking area or a filling station.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Bushmills
Since each callouts differ, a single price wouldn't be honest. The price moves first with how long, if at all, the motor has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that was put in. After that it turns on where the car is and whether our van can reach it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight gap behind the far end of the built-up part.
Before any quote, never afterwards, every enquiry from Bushmills opens with three checks: the liquid, the quantity, and whether the engine ran. Those replies turn a range into a straight quote.
Our quote is given during the call, before a van sets off; settling up comes on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
Still next to your car in Bushmills?
Then, the best thing to do with the vehicle is to not touch it. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Tell us it's AdBlue, about how big an amount, and whether it ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel handles it, in Bushmills or wherever in County Antrim.