Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Coleraine
Keep the engine and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Caught before your motor runs, it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Coleraine. The remainder of this page covers why it occurs and how to make sure it does not — handy if you are reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of newer diesels around Ballybogy, as well as Coleraine, carry on two fluids; the engine takes only the diesel. Its own tank holds it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, and there spraying treats the gas.
There's a filler on every tank. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, the diesel side gets filled all the time. Seldom filled, AdBlue usually goes in out of a bottle, poured by someone who has to stop and think which cap to use. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place in Coleraine
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from the vehicle, and letting it run out means limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off Rock Street, perhaps at the pub in the village on the way home after work.
The old car's filler is where your hand goes — yet a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That's a second factor: an unfamiliar motor.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, after started, keeps on. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Coleraine or out in Ballyrashane.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Check these before pouring, at a forecourt around Coleraine or a driveway over in Articlave. Seconds, that's all.
- Position can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps are often blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually do not.
- On plenty of motors, size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Open the flap and look for a label — many motors show what goes in which inlet just there.
- Cannot see it next to the diesel inlet? In that case check beneath the bonnet or in your boot — the handbook says where.
- Whoever had it before will know. Check when you pick up a rental or company car — at the nearest station's car park, say — not when the warning appears.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
Anywhere in County Londonderry the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Stop on level, motor off, with time in hand — never rushing on the side of Bayview Street.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you've located the filler and read it.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where both share a flap, make sure it's shut before lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, then look once more — making sure the diesel filler stayed shut the whole time. After that, start the car.
Find during the second or third stage that the bottle went into the wrong tank? That's where you stop. Step five stays off limits.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Coleraine already?
The short order of things, beginning with not starting the engine. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch it on. Topping up with diesel won't dilute it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of your tank, right where the fuel is taken from.
On a forecourt — the nearest petrol station, another forecourt nearby or another — the attendants will normally help push the car away, if you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway in Coleraine.
When your motor has run by now, stop somewhere safe then switch the car off. Coleraine sits over 50 miles from the M77; on it, use the next junction. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Coleraine is smaller work than a trip of under 50 miles towards Derry, and so say.
When our technicians turn up in Coleraine, what occurs?
Wherever your car came to rest, whether outside the local primary school, near the centre or on your own drive, our van comes to it. Those replies decide the work and the quote, so our technicians ask what got in, roughly how much, and if it's run. Nobody heads out until you've heard the price by phone.
Then that tank is emptied and the system flushed thoroughly. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own. Once your filter has been cleaned — or renewed, where required — fresh diesel is added, and finally your car is tested. Before leaving, our technicians fire it up and confirm that it's running correctly.
Using pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where the motor has not run take roughly half an hour after our engineers arrive. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Coleraine
Coleraine is a town in County Londonderry, situated inland near the River Bann. Coleraine sits at a relatively low elevation of 12 metres, approximately 27 miles from Derry. Coleraine is surrounded by nearby places such as Ballyrashane, Macosquin, and Portstewart, and its population is around 10,214 people, predominantly living in terraced housing.
AdBlue drains around Coleraine, and County Londonderry beyond
Coleraine is a town, and the vans that cover it also work the places near it, Macosquin and Portstewart among them, across the BT postcode area. A postcode starting BT52 2 gets the van to you fastest.
The vehicle does not need to move. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to the green space at the edge of the village, a side street close to a street just off the centre: we drain it where it sits. Awkward to pin down, like the back of the far end of the built-up part? Close to a county line? Checking is better than guessing, and so phone.
The short version for Coleraine drivers
Pour nothing until you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere around County Londonderry.