AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Glenavy? Keep It Switched Off
Engine off, ignition off: that is how you begin if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. Urea dissolved in water is all AdBlue is. It doesn't burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the damage it does starts when the system pulls it in. If the engine hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally drained and carefully cleaned where the car sits around Glenavy. Before you do anything else, ring 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Glenavy: the first few minutes
Do these:
- Pull your keys out, and so no one switches your ignition on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all close.
- So you can give us which fluid it was and about how much, save the till receipt or the empty bottle.
- Call just where you are. Say a BT29 4 postcode or the closest street sign, and no one has to hunt for you.
Don't do these:
- No starting the motor — not for a second, not to shift your car.
- Plenty of diesels power their pump the instant your ignition goes on, so leave it off.
- No more fuel on top. The AdBlue won't mix, so it is pointless.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, including a short stretch up Heugh Road.
- Draining your tank on your own beside the road isn't one to try.
The staff working at any Glenavy forecourt — the the nearest petrol station among them — will usually help pushing it clear if you ask. At your own drive, do not move it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not the engine. Stored in a separate tank, it is injected into the exhaust stream to clean the fumes. A fuel pump is not made to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to travel through one.
Poured in with the diesel, it stays separate rather than mixing — quite different from fuel. Denser than diesel, it sinks and collects underneath it — the very place the pickup draws from. The first thing your fuel system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Upper Ballinderry last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the simple case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has sucked it in.
Once it's sucked in, the damage comes in two forms. What is left when the water evaporates is urea, which forms crystals: they settle in tiny passages and clog filters. Worse, it eats at some metals in the fuel system, and carries on till it's cleared out. Overnight, a car sitting around Glenavy with AdBlue in its lines grows worse; if it is only in your tank, it doesn't. Water lubricates nothing. The high-pressure pump and every injector need diesel running past them, so the water part harms them by itself.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel commonly the bigger issue?
Top up a diesel with petrol in error over at the another forecourt nearby, and this issue is thinned fuel. Mixed through your diesel and left still, it is harmless for now; running the motor does the damage.
AdBlue in a diesel is a fault of the wrong substance altogether. It cannot just be run through, because it doesn't burn. Nor can it be watered down, since it separates again — and the following fill will not clear away crystals or corrosion. So the flush counts more with AdBlue, and turning your key "to see", in the centre of Glenavy or out in Stoneyford, costs more than almost any other error.
With AdBlue, the good news is no distinct from petrol. Anywhere across County Antrim your vehicle has come to rest, an unstarted motor leaves the AdBlue still inside the tank: the simplest part of any fuel system to empty.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Glenavy
Many vehicles place the AdBlue filler beside the diesel one, now and then behind one flap, and in dim light the two may look the same. Nobody intends it. Mostly it occurs with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the forecourt.
Usually, it occurs in one of a few familiar ways. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside the local primary school the refill is hurried. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Chalet Road. One more pattern: dim light, the car park by the pub in the village, and a driver opening that flap for the first time.
The least familiar cars get it most — hire cars, brand-new ones, fleet ones, and the other motor of a family with one of each fuel types. Wherever you are around Glenavy or the remainder of County Antrim, it's the same error and the same first answer: leave the vehicle off.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank in Glenavy?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. It has been pulled through the filter and the fuel lines, and if your motor ran for any time, it has got to the high-pressure fuel pump and your injectors.
Perhaps coming back from the green space at the edge of the village, or part way across Glenavy, the motor might run rough, smoke, lose pace, flash your dash or stall. Pull over when safe. Turn off. Keep the vehicle off instead of testing it again. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
Exit the M77, over 50 miles from Glenavy, at the first junction and park safely, rather than carrying on.
How far it went matters. A few hundred yards across Glenavy to the car park by the centre is a very different job from a run towards Lisburn, under 10 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the fuel system with every mile. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
Once the engine has been started, the flush covers more, and all of it is done where the vehicle has come to a stop. Very rarely does it leave lasting damage when it is caught quickly.
What draining AdBlue from a diesel involves around Glenavy
The car remains where it is, whether that's a road beside a street just off the centre, a driveway, a layby or a filling station in Glenavy, and the van travels to it. Three replies shape the work, and so first we ask what was put in, about the amount, plus whether the engine has turned over.
The contaminated diesel and the urea come out together after your tank is drained, on the spot. What remains from AdBlue won't wash out unaided, and so the fuel system gets a careful flush, which counts much more here than for petrol. Fresh diesel goes in after the fuel filter is cleaned — or swapped, when it needs to be — and after that your vehicle is tested. About half an hour on site is usual for most jobs when the motor hasn't run. Our equipment is explosion-proof, so a busy forecourt is no fault, and it's quiet enough for a residential street late at night.
The final step is to bleed the system on clean diesel. At that point our technicians start it and you head off, whether from a parking space outside the nearest station or a driveway around Glenavy. The check before we leave is that it runs properly on clean diesel. The whole job is done where the car is, so it never has to go to a workshop. At the end, there is the paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice plus a written report from the engineer.
About Glenavy
Glenavy is a small locality in County Antrim, situated inland at an elevation of 72 metres, approximately 9 miles from Lisburn. Glenavy is characterised by its semi-detached housing and is located near other settlements such as Crumlin and Lower Ballinderry. Glenavy has a population of around 868 people and is part of the wider region surrounding Belfast. Glenavy is also close to Aldergrove, which is a notable nearby place.
AdBlue drains across County Antrim, Glenavy included
Our vans that answer AdBlue calls in Glenavy also cover the places about it, Crumlin, Lower Ballinderry and Aldergrove among them, and most of County Antrim beyond, across the BT postcode area. Phone and ask rather than guess if you're close to a border, or somewhere tricky to pin down.
Wherever your car stands — a driveway at home, a side street, a parking area, a forecourt — our engineers drain it there, and there's no need to take it to us; which suits Glenavy, a small village, well.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Glenavy
No flat figure would be honest, because every job differs. What shifts the price is, first of all, whether the motor has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue went in; and then where the car is and whether a technician can reach it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight space behind the far end of the built-up part.
Before any figure, not after, each call from Glenavy opens with three questions: the fuel, the quantity, plus if the engine ran. With those replies, a range narrows to a single firm figure.
The price is given during the call, before anyone sets off; settling up comes on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Check your insurance whilst we are on the way: many include misfuelling cover.
In Glenavy and still beside the vehicle?
Then the most useful thing you can do is nothing to your car. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103 then tell us it's AdBlue, roughly how much, and if it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, in Glenavy or anywhere around County Antrim.