Foreglen: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case set this page down for now, keep the ignition and engine off, and ring 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, carried out right where the car sits in Foreglen, is usually all it takes if caught before your engine runs. The rest of this page covers why it happens and how to make sure it does not — useful if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Plenty of newer diesels on the roads round Foreglen and Straidarran carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that's the arrangement on a lot of cars. On others, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in the boot instead. At the pump, the diesel side gets filled constantly. The AdBlue side is topped up far less regularly, normally from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen around Foreglen?
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out completely, your vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Crown Street before work, or in the car park outside the pub in the village on the way home.
Unfamiliar cars are second, too. Hire cars, new motors and company cars put their fillers in new places, and habit reaches for the cap used on the old one.
A spouted bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, once begun, keeps on. Whether it occurs in Claudy or the middle of Foreglen, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these first, at a forecourt around Foreglen or a driveway out in Goshedan. Seconds, no more.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally is not. Read it rather than going by position.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Lift the filler flap and check for a label — many cars mark what belongs in which inlet just there.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler is if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at the nearest station? Check with whoever drove the car last before leaving, rather than when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
For the day the light comes on — wherever you are around County Londonderry — a simple routine to use.
- Turn off after you park — level ground, motor off, and not in a rush by Crom Street on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew it. It seems silly. It does the trick.
- The two under one flap? So make sure the lid on the diesel side is still shut before lifting the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Don't carry on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Foreglen?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the engine. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels as soon as the ignition is switched on — and so leave it off. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is sucked from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it is the the nearest petrol station or the another forecourt nearby, ask the attendants to help push the car clear of the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive in Foreglen.
Already run? Pull over once it's sensible, then turn off. The next exit is where to leave when you are on the M77, over 50 miles from Foreglen. Mileage matters — a short hop across Foreglen is a smaller job than heading under 10 miles to Derry — so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival in Foreglen, and what takes place next
Anywhere the vehicle came to rest, be it by the local primary school, beside the centre or on your own drive, the van comes to it. Our technicians ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether it has run, because those answers decide the work and the quote. No one sets off until you've heard our quote by phone.
Next: a drain, then a full flush of the whole system. More than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: crystals form, certain metals are attacked, and none of it clears away on its own, no matter how long it sits. Filter flushed or, if needed, swapped; fresh diesel in; then a test of the vehicle. The motor is started next and tested to be sure it runs smoothly, all before our engineers go.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour after we arrive, provided your motor hasn't run — and the pumps we use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet after dark outside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It is worth checking your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Foreglen itself
Foreglen is a small locality in County Londonderry, situated inland at an elevation of around 130 metres. Foreglen lies near the city of Derry, approximately 8.6 miles away, and is close to other nearby places such as Claudy, Killaloo, and Ballyrory. Foreglen is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock and a population of around 583 residents.
AdBlue drains across County Londonderry, Foreglen included
Throughout BT postcodes, the teams covering Foreglen — a small village — work the nearby locations too, Ballyrory and Killaloo included. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting BT47 4.
No need to shift your car. 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: our technicians drain the vehicle where it stands. Awkward to explain, like the back of the far end of the built-up part? By a county line? Asking beats assuming, so phone.
The short version for Foreglen motorists
Read the cap before you pour. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it wherever it is, wherever in County Londonderry: keep the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103.