Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Conlig
Motor off, ignition off: that is where you begin if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. As it is water-based, it won't burn and never combines with diesel; trouble only starts once your pump begins drawing it. If the engine has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually emptied and carefully cleaned where the vehicle sits around Conlig. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Conlig: the first few minutes
Do these:
- Pocket your keys, which stops someone turning the electrics on.
- If you are at all near moving traffic, put your hazards on.
- Hold on to your receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what went in and roughly how much.
- The van finds you quickest with a postcode starting BT23 7, or simply the name of a street nearby, and so phone from the car.
Do not do these:
- No starting your engine — not for a second, not to shift your car.
- Switching your key to ignition alone sets the pump running on many diesels. Avoid it.
- AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra diesel will not thin it.
- Even a short way along Heugh Road is too far to drive the vehicle.
- No draining it yourself, at all, on the verge.
At a forecourt around Conlig, whether it is the the nearest petrol station or another one, ask the attendants to help you roll your car away from the pump. If you're on your own drive, leave it precisely where it stands.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
The motor isn't what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. Its own reservoir keeps it, and from there it is fed into your exhaust, and there it treats the fumes. Nothing inside a fuel pump is made for this fluid — and no part of it was intended to go that way.
Inside a diesel tank it acts very differently from fuel. It does not mix in. It sinks, because it's denser than diesel, and settles low where the pickup draws its fuel from. Simplest of all: a vehicle that got AdBlue in Helens Bay last night and has not turned since. The liquid sits at the foot of that tank, untouched — but it would be the first thing through if your motor runs, before any diesel at all.
From there it causes two kinds of damage. What is left once the water evaporates is urea, which turns into crystals: they settle in narrow channels and block filters. Worse, it attacks some metals in a fuel system, and keeps going until it's flushed out. By daybreak, a car sitting in Conlig with AdBlue in its lines grows worse; if it's only in that tank, it doesn't. And there's the water: it offers no protection to the parts that need it the most — the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is frequently more significant than petrol
A fault of thin fuel is what you end up with after filling a diesel with petrol at the another forecourt nearby. Blended through the diesel and left still, it is no threat at that stage; using the motor is the damage.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally unsuitable substance. It cannot just be run through, because it doesn't burn. Nor can it be thinned, since it splits again — and the following tankful will not clear away crystals or corrosion. So the flush matters more with AdBlue, and turning your key "to see", in the centre of Conlig or out in Groomsport, costs more than nearly any other mistake.
As with petrol, there's good news. If your engine hasn't run, the AdBlue is still inside the tank, and that tank is the simplest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever in County Down the vehicle is standing.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Conlig
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many motors sits right next to your diesel filler, sometimes under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Most of the time it takes place with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the pump.
A few familiar ways account for most cases. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up occurs in a hurry outside the local primary school. Someone tips the bottle in outside their house, just off Dunskey Street, as the day ends. Or your car is topped up in the car park at the pub in the village, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
The least known cars get it the most — hire cars, new cars, fleet cars, and the other motor in a home with one of each fuel types. Wherever across County Down, Conlig as well, the slip doesn't change, and neither does the first step: leave it off.
Conlig: started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the AdBlue has left that tank. Your filter and pipework have had it sucked along, and some running carries it on to the high-pressure pump and each injector.
You may notice your engine running unevenly, 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 Conlig. No restarting to test: stop once it is safe, then switch it off. More of that is pulled through with each start.
Conlig sits over 50 miles from the M77; if you were on it, leave at the next junction and stop safely rather than carrying on.
How far it went matters. A couple of hundred yards across Conlig 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. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
Once the motor has run, the flush covers more, and all of it is done where your car has ended up. When it's spotted early, long-term damage is very unusual.
What clearing AdBlue from a diesel involves in Conlig
The vehicle stays where it is, whether that's a road near a street just off the centre, a driveway, a layby or a forecourt in Conlig, and our van travels to it. The work depends on three answers, which our engineers ask for first — what got in, the amount, and whether the engine has run.
Then your tank is cleared where the vehicle waits, so the polluted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. Residue from AdBlue will not flush out by itself, and so the whole system gets a careful flush, which matters far more here than with petrol. Clean diesel goes in once the fuel filter is cleaned — or replaced, if it needs to be — and after that your vehicle is tested. Roughly half an hour on site is usual for most jobs when your engine has not run. Explosion-proof pumps make a busy forecourt sensible to work on, and they're quiet enough not to disturb the neighbours at night.
Bleeding the system with new diesel comes last. Then our technicians start the engine and you set off, whether from a parking bay by the nearest station or a drive in Conlig. It is checked on fresh diesel to confirm it runs correctly before we head off. Since the job is done in its entirety where the vehicle is, a garage never comes into it. At the end, there is paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer.
About Conlig and where it is
Conlig is a small coastal locality in County Down, situated near the towns of Newtownards and Bangor. Conlig sits at an elevation of around 100 metres, overlooking the coastline of Northern Ireland. Conlig is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its residential nature. Conlig is located approximately 10 miles from Belfast, making it a commuter settlement for the city.
AdBlue drains in Conlig and across County Down
Newtownards, Bangor and Crawfordsburn are among the towns near Conlig that the same vans reach, together with most of County Down beyond, throughout the BT postcode area. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask instead of guessing.
No towing is needed. In Conlig, a coastal area, a van that comes to you fits: your car is emptied where it stands, be it in a drive, a side street, a parking area or a filling station.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Conlig: the cost of fixing it
Because the jobs vary, a single price wouldn't be fair. The price changes first with how long, if at all, the motor has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that went in. After that it depends on where the vehicle is and whether a technician can get to it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight spot behind the far end of the built-up part.
Ahead of any quote, never after, every enquiry from Conlig opens with the same three checks: the liquid, the quantity, and whether the engine ran. The replies turn a range into a straight price.
Before a van sets off, you hear the price on the phone. And payment is on the day, card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van arrives.
Next to the car in Conlig, still?
In that case, do nothing — that's the best step available. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Say it was AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel handles it, in Conlig or anywhere in County Down.