Dooish: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
Motor off, ignition off: that is how you start if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. In plain terms, AdBlue is just urea in water. Being water-based, it won't ignite and won't blend with diesel; damage only comes when your pump begins pulling it. In Dooish, AdBlue in a diesel tank caught before the engine runs usually comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, just where your car is. First, phone us on 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Dooish: the first few minutes
Do:
- Pocket your keys, and that prevents anyone turning the power on.
- If you're at all close to moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- Which product, and about what amount? Hang on to the bottle or the till receipt, and our engineers will see.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting BT78 4, or the name of the nearest street, gets our van to you without a search.
Never do these:
- Moving your vehicle even a short way is no reason to fire up the engine.
- Switching the key to ignition alone sets the pump running on plenty of diesels. Skip it.
- Don't top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short way down Rock Street.
- No draining it yourself, either, at the roadside.
Ask the attendants to help you move the vehicle away from the pumps if you are at a forecourt in Dooish, whether it is the the nearest petrol station or elsewhere. Parked on your own driveway? Then it stays exactly where it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Meant for the exhaust, AdBlue has no place in your motor. From a dedicated tank it is fed straight to your exhaust, cleaning what the motor emits. Nothing inside an injection pump is made for this fluid — and no part of it was intended to go that way.
It doesn't blend. Once it's tipped into the tank, AdBlue acts not at all like fuel. It's heavier than diesel, so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of that tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. When your pump runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to be pulled through. Before then it sits underneath the diesel, and that is why a vehicle filled in Dromore last night and not started remains the straightforward case, provided nobody touches the key.
Two kinds of harm follow from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that crystallises in filters and narrow channels; meanwhile, since it eats at certain metals, each part it touches suffers for as long as it remains in there. Overnight, a car parked in Dooish with AdBlue in its lines gets worse; where it is just in that tank, it doesn't. The water in it does damage of its own: your high-pressure pump and the injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is commonly worse
Put petrol in a diesel at the another forecourt nearby and you have a problem of thin fuel. Blended through the diesel and sitting unused, it's no threat for now; running the motor does the harm.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely unsuitable substance. Because it does not burn, running it through isn't an option. Nor can it be thinned, since it splits back out — and the next tankful will not rinse away crystals or corrosion. So the flush matters for more here, and trying the engine "to see", in the heart of Dooish or out in Gillygooly, does more harm than nearly any other mistake.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Anywhere in County Tyrone the vehicle has come to rest, an unrun engine leaves the AdBlue still inside the tank: the simplest part of any fuel system to clear.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Dooish?
It is not on purpose. Plenty of vehicles have the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel inlet, now and then behind one flap, and muddling them up is easy after dark. It usually takes place outside the house, from a container grabbed on the journey home, not at the filling station.
It tends to take place in a few familiar ways. The top-up is rushed outside the local primary school, because your dash flashed with a warning as the children were taken in. Close to Crom Street, a driver pours a bottle in at home after work. Else, after dark by the pub in the village, the vehicle is topped up by a driver opening that flap the first time.
It takes place most in the cars people know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Leave it off: that's the first response to the same mistake, wherever in Dooish or the rest of County Tyrone you are.
Dooish: started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the AdBlue has left your tank. With any running time, it goes on to the high-pressure pump and each injector, having passed through the fuel filter and lines.
Maybe coming back from the green space at the edge of the village, or part way across Dooish, the engine might go rough, smoke, drop pace, light up your dash or cut out. Stop when it is safe. Switch off. Keep it off rather than testing it again. Every start pulls more of it through.
Dooish sits over 50 miles from the M77; if you were on it, exit at the next junction and pull up somewhere safe rather than carrying on.
Hopping across Dooish to the car park by the centre is one thing; heading towards Derry, under 50 miles away, is another, because every mile carries the AdBlue deeper in. So distance matters. Tell us about how far it had come.
We do all of the cleaning where the car has stopped, and once the engine has run there is more of it. When it is noticed early, permanent damage is very unusual.
Clearing AdBlue in a diesel around Dooish: what it takes
Our technicians come to the vehicle, wherever it has stopped in Dooish: a side street close to a street just off the centre, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. What was put in, roughly the quantity, and if your motor has been run: our technicians check before all else, since those decide the work.
Then that tank is drained where the car sits, and so the polluted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. Your system is cleaned thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. Testing your vehicle follows last, after clean diesel is added and the filter gets cleaned or, where needed, swapped. Engine not run? In that case expect roughly half an hour on site for most jobs. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Bleeding your system with clean diesel comes at the end. At that point we start the engine and you drive off, whether from a parking space by the nearest station or a driveway around Dooish. The check before we leave is that it runs smoothly on new diesel. No workshop is needed at any stage, with the whole job done on the spot. The insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and the VAT invoice — both yours afterwards.
About Dooish
Dooish is a small locality in County Tyrone, situated inland at an elevation of 93 metres, and is located near the settlements of Drumquin, Lack, and Clanabogan. Dooish is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock and is home to a population of around 518 people. Dooish sits approximately 29 miles from the city of Derry and is a considerable distance from London, at around 372 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Dooish and County Tyrone
AdBlue call-outs around Dooish go to vans that serve the places around it — Drumquin, Lack plus Clanabogan — and much of County Tyrone further out, throughout BT postcodes. If you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask rather than guessing.
A van that comes to you suits Dooish, a small village: you have no need to take the vehicle to us, because our technicians drain it on the spot, on a drive, a side street, a car park or a filling station.
Dooish: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Because the jobs differ, a single figure would not be fair. Whether the motor has run, and for how long, comes first in what shifts the price. How much AdBlue went in comes next, and then the position of the car, since an open driveway is easier for a technician to get to safely than a tight space behind the far end of the built-up part.
Ahead of any quote, not afterwards, every enquiry from Dooish begins with the same three checks: the liquid, the amount, plus whether it ran. Once they are known, a range becomes a single fixed number.
Before anyone sets off, you are told our quote by phone. Then you pay on the day, card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. As our engineer is on the way, dig out your policy: plenty include misfuelling.
Dooish: still beside the vehicle?
Leaving your vehicle alone is, then, the best move you can do. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Tell us it's AdBlue, about what quantity, and whether the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel takes over, in Dooish or anywhere in County Tyrone.