AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Derrynoose? Keep It Switched Off
Motor off, ignition off: that is how you begin if AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank. Water with urea mixed in it: that is AdBlue. Not like fuel, it neither burns nor blends, and nothing happens until the engine sucks it through. If your engine hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally drained and thoroughly cleaned where your car sits in Derrynoose. Call 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank in Derrynoose
Do:
- Pocket your keys, which prevents anyone turning the electrics on.
- If you are anywhere near moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- The empty bottle or the till receipt shows us the fluid and the amount, so don't bin it away.
- Give us a postcode starting BT60 3, or whichever street lies closest, and our van reaches you directly — so ring from wherever you stand.
Don't do these:
- Not even for a second, and not to roll your car: the engine stays off.
- The ignition remains off: on lots of diesels, switching it on is enough to run your pump.
- Don't top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue does not dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Keep the vehicle where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short stretch down Heugh Road.
- By the road, do not attempt draining it yourself.
The attendants on duty at any Derrynoose filling station — the the nearest petrol station among them — will normally help pushing it aside if you ask. If you're on your own drive, leave it precisely where it stands.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Not the motor but your exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. Stored in a dedicated tank, it is injected into the exhaust to treat the fumes. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is made to handle it.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves very differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. It is heavier than diesel, so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup sucks fuel from. Simplest of all: one that had AdBlue in Middletown overnight and has not turned since. The liquid waits at the foot of that tank, untouched — though it would be the first thing through once your motor starts, before any diesel at all.
Two kinds of harm follow from there. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it is corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, and so it keeps labouring on the components it reaches for as long as it remains there. If the AdBlue is in the lines, leaving it overnight in Derrynoose makes it worse. In that tank alone, time costs nothing. Water lubricates nothing. The injection pump and every injector need diesel flowing past them, and so the water part harms them in its own right.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is frequently more major than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol by mistake over at the another forecourt nearby, and this problem is diluted fuel. It mixes with your diesel, and whilst it is inside the tank it does no damage; the damage comes from running the motor on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is an issue of the wrong substance altogether. Not burning, it can't just be run through. Nor can it be watered down, because it splits again — and the following fill won't rinse away deposits or corrosion. So the flush matters more with AdBlue, and turning the key "to see", in the centre of Derrynoose or out in Tynan, does more harm than almost any other mistake.
As with petrol, there's good news. Clearing a tank is the easiest job on any fuel system, and without start-up, the AdBlue stays in there — wherever in County Armagh your vehicle has stopped.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Derrynoose
It's not deliberate. Plenty of vehicles have the AdBlue inlet alongside the diesel inlet, now and then under one flap, and muddling them up is easy in poor light. Most of the time it happens with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the pump.
It tends to occur in a few familiar ways. Rushing, outside the local primary school, after a warning light came on during the school run, a parent refills the car. A driver tips the bottle in outside their house, right off South Crescent, as the day ends. Or someone new to that flap tops up your vehicle in dim light, stopped in the car park by the pub in the village.
It crops up the most in a hire car, a new vehicle, a fleet car, or the other vehicle of a home with one of each fuel types — the vehicles drivers know least. Anywhere in County Armagh, Derrynoose included, the slip does not change, and nor does the first response: leave it switched off.
Derrynoose: started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer inside that tank. The fuel filter and pipework have had it pulled through, and any running time takes it on to the injection pump and every injector.
You may notice your motor running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, perhaps on the way back from the green space at the edge of the village or halfway across Derrynoose. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart the vehicle to check. More of that is pulled through with each start.
Leave the M77, over 50 miles from Derrynoose, by the next junction and park somewhere safe, not carrying on.
A quick hop across Derrynoose to the car park by the centre is one thing; heading towards Armagh, under 10 miles away, is another, since every mile pushes the AdBlue further in. So mileage matters. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
There's more to flush once the engine has been started, and our engineers do all of it where the car has ended up. Very seldom does it leave long-term damage when it's noticed quickly.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves around Derrynoose
The vehicle remains put, whether that is a street beside a street just off the centre, a driveway, a layby or a filling station in Derrynoose, and the van travels to it. The job depends on three replies, which we ask for first — what went in, the quantity, and whether your engine has turned over.
The polluted diesel and the urea leave as one after the tank is emptied, on the spot. A careful flush matters much more after AdBlue than with petrol, since residue won't clear out by itself. Next, the fuel filter: cleaned, or changed when it must be. Then fresh diesel, and then a test of your car. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour job once our engineers arrive, if your engine has not run. Low-noise enough for use outside a house at night, and fine on a busy forecourt, the pumps are explosion-proof.
New diesel goes in to prime the system, and that is the final step. Firing it up comes next, and then you drive off from where your car is parked, outside the nearest station or on a driveway in Derrynoose. Our technicians make sure it runs properly on fresh diesel before leaving. The whole job is done where the car is, so it never needs to be taken to a workshop. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come afterwards.
About Derrynoose itself
Derrynoose is a small locality in County Armagh, situated inland at an elevation of around 155 metres. Derrynoose lies approximately 9 miles from the city of Armagh and is close to nearby places such as Keady, Madden, and Darkley. Derrynoose has a population of around 527 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing.
AdBlue drains across Derrynoose and County Armagh
The vans that answer AdBlue jobs around Derrynoose also cover the locations round it, Keady, Madden and Darkley among them, and most of County Armagh beyond, across the BT postcode area. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask instead of assuming.
No moving is needed. In Derrynoose, a small village, a mobile service fits: the vehicle is drained where it stands, be it in a driveway, a side street, a car park or a filling station.
Derrynoose: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
No flat figure could be honest, because each job differs. Whether your engine has run, and for how long, comes first in what moves the price. How much AdBlue went in comes next, and then the position of your car, because an open driveway is simpler for a technician to get to safely than a tight gap behind the far end of the built-up part.
Ahead of any quote, not after, every enquiry from Derrynoose begins with three checks: the liquid, the amount, plus whether it ran. Given those replies, a range shrinks to one fixed number.
You get that price by phone, before anyone heads out, and you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. While the van is on the way, check your insurance: many cover misfuelling.
In Derrynoose and still next to your car?
Then the most helpful thing you can do is nothing to the vehicle. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, plus if it ran are everything our engineers ask. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest across County Armagh, Derrynoose included.