Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Greencastle
Keep the motor and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 first — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. In Greencastle, catching it before your engine runs normally means draining and a thorough flush where it stands. Reading in advance? In that case the rest covers why it comes about and how to prevent it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Many newer diesels around Gortin, as well as Greencastle, run on two liquids; your engine takes only the diesel. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, where spraying cleans the fumes.
Each tank has a filler of its own. Plenty of vehicles have a single flap for both, whereas some put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, your diesel side gets filled constantly. The AdBlue side is topped up far less frequently, normally from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. Mistakes happen in that gap between them.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank happens around Greencastle
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
Haste follows from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a driveway off Wallace Cottages, or heading home in the car park at the pub in the village.
Then the vehicle is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Third, the bottle goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as easily, and once the pour begins, no part halts it. Rousky or the heart of Greencastle: it takes the same few seconds either way.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Look at these before pouring, at a forecourt around Greencastle or a driveway out in Dunnamore. A few seconds, that's all.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually is not. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it is when your filler is not next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside the nearest station, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around County Tyrone that is.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Dunaverty Court.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Spot at stage two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? Then stop just there. Never go on to step five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Greencastle?
Short list, then. First: the engine stays off. The fuel pump starts on many diesels the moment your ignition is switched on — so leave it off. Thinning it with more diesel won't work, because AdBlue settles to the bottom rather than blending — and that is where your fuel is sucked from.
The attendants at the nearest petrol station, another forecourt nearby or another forecourt will normally help pushing your car away when asked. If you're on your own drive around Greencastle, leave it where it stands.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Leave the M77 — over 50 miles out of Greencastle — at the first junction. A short hop across Greencastle is a smaller job than a run towards Derry, under 25 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
Greencastle: what happens when our technicians arrive
Wherever your car came to rest, be it outside the local primary school, beside the centre or on your own drive, our van travels to it. The replies settle this work and our quote, and so our engineers ask what got in, roughly how much, and if it has run. Nobody heads out before you have heard the quote by phone.
Draining your tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the system. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own. After the filter has been flushed — or replaced, if required — clean diesel is added, and finally the car is tested. Before we go, our technicians fire it up and confirm that it's running properly.
With pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your motor has not run need roughly half an hour once our engineers are there. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork your insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Greencastle and where it is
Greencastle is a small locality in County Tyrone, situated inland at an elevation of 184 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Greencastle is located near the villages of Rousky, Loughmacrory, and Mountfield, and is approximately 23 miles from the city of Derry. Greencastle has a population of around 568 people, and is characterized by its rural setting. Greencastle is also relatively distant from major urban centres, with London being around 362 miles away.
Greencastle and County Tyrone: AdBlue drains across the area
Loughmacrory and Mountfield are among the towns near Greencastle, a small village, that the same vans cover, over BT postcodes. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting BT79 7.
Your car remains where it is. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street close to a street just off the centre, a lay-by on the way to the green space at the edge of the village, a drive. Tricky to pin down, like the back of the far end of the built-up part? By a border? Asking is better than guessing, and so phone.
The short version for Greencastle motorists
Read the cap before you pour. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless, leave the vehicle off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere around County Tyrone.