AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Carnlough: What Now?
One thing matters above all when AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and it is whether the engine has run afterwards. Anywhere your vehicle is — Cushendall, Carnlough — don't run a motor that hasn't been started yet. Call 0333 366 0103 with your key and engine still off. In Carnlough, that is generally emptied and cleaned where it stands. When your engine has been run, stop safely first, then turn the car off. It's a larger job, though step one does not change.
Further down: the situations our engineers meet, anywhere in County Antrim. Pick the one that fits.
Carnlough forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
You are at the pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. Be it the nearest petrol station, another forecourt nearby or anywhere else in Carnlough, the situation is identical.
The upshot: of every spot to find out, this is the best. Nothing has drawn it through, so the AdBlue stays only in the tank.
Do this: stay out of the driver's seat, even if the queue needs clearing. Ask the staff to help you roll the vehicle into a parking bay, keep the receipt or the bottle, and ring us from the forecourt. Can't move the vehicle by the petrol pump? Explosion-proof equipment keeps a live forecourt sensible, so it can be drained where it is.
AdBlue in your diesel tank on a Carnlough drive?
For days the dash had been warning you. Only by the recycling, the empty container in your hand, did you look back at the cap you had used on the drive. Houses just off B842 get hit as much as anywhere else.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. On the bottom of the tank sits where AdBlue stays, since it will not mix with diesel — and a night going by changes no difference.
Keep your keys in the house tonight — otherwise someone may drive it away first thing — and call us. In Glenarm or right here around Carnlough, the draining is done at your driveway. The pumping kit runs quietly enough that it won't wake the neighbours at night.
On the road in Carnlough with AdBlue in a diesel
Lumpy running, smoke, lost power or a glowing dashboard arrived a short way after the top-up. It might have been heading to Belfast, under 50 miles away, or simply down Teapot Lane.
What it means: the fuel system has drawn the AdBlue in. Distance sets how deep it gets: filter and lines to begin with, then the injection pump and every injector. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Next: find a sensible spot, pull in, and turn the motor off. Carnlough sits over 50 miles from the M77; on it, come off at the first junction rather than pushing on for the services. Don't restart the car to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Ring us and say how far you drove.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
You've had this vehicle barely a week. The AdBlue filler sits right alongside the diesel filler, which you didn't know, since your own car either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Wherever you are across County Antrim, every driver could slip up.
The upshot: just as above, divided by if it ran, but with one added stage. Many hire and company contracts want the owner to approve work on your car.
Settling it before the van arrives is faster, and so ring the hire company or your fleet manager, then us. Leave the car off as the reply comes, whether you're waiting outside the nearest station or close to the centre.
Unsure about AdBlue in the diesel tank around Carnlough?
"I think so" is often as honest as it gets. The bottle is lighter than it should be, there's a faint smell of ammonia around the filler, and you can't remember which cap you took off. A hurried top-up by the gates of the local primary school, or a call to a friend in Carnalbanagh: either fits.
The point: the motor is not harmed by some AdBlue splashed on the outside. AdBlue inside the diesel tank does. Any AdBlue in that tank would be sucked in by starting the car, and the start would not settle which it is in any case.
Take it that it went in, and never start your engine. Phone and give the details: we'd rather confirm a tank free of AdBlue than empty one after your engine has been run.
Every AdBlue drain around Carnlough shares these steps
Every situation gets the same start to the job. We come to your car, whether it is on a forecourt, a drive, the car park at the pub in the village or a side street near a street just off the centre, and ask three things: what was put in, roughly how much, and whether your motor has been run. On the phone, ahead of dispatch, you hear our price, and those answers shape the work too.
Then that tank is emptied and the fuel system flushed thoroughly, which counts 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 comes the filter — cleaned, or swapped when necessary — then clean diesel, and a test of your vehicle. The majority of unrun cars are a half-hour job after the moment our engineers get there.
Starting the car comes at the end. Our test that it runs smoothly on clean diesel comes before our technicians leave. Permanent damage is very rare when it's caught early, and the entire job is done where your car is. Nothing is taken upfront, payment happens on the day, and you receive what your insurer asks for: an engineer report plus a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Carnlough and where it is
Carnlough is a small coastal locality in County Antrim, situated near the villages of Glenarm and Waterfoot. Carnlough sits at a low elevation of around 6 metres, looking out onto the sea. Carnlough is characterized by its semi-detached housing and quiet residential atmosphere, within commuting distance of Belfast. Carnlough is also close to other nearby places such as Aughafatten.
Carnlough and County Antrim: AdBlue drains across the area
Waterfoot and Aughafatten get the same vans as Carnlough, a coastal area, plus other towns over BT postcodes. Giving us your BT44 0 postcode pins you quickest of all.
Centre of Carnlough or a layby near the green space at the edge of the village: either way it is, your vehicle never needs to move at all for us. The van drains it where it stands. Guessing won't help beside the far end of the built-up part, on a county line or somewhere hard to pin down; ring and ask.
Your situation, in one line
Where it has not run, ring then keep it off. Already run: stop, switch off then ring. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there in Carnlough and anywhere across County Antrim on 0333 366 0103.