How It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Limavady
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and your ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103. Normally, when the motor has not turned, it is drained and thoroughly flushed where your vehicle is around Limavady. Here in advance? In that case the rest explains why it happens and what to prevent it happening at all.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Plenty of current diesels on the roads round Limavady and Ardgarvan carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your 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.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. Many of motors have a single flap for the two, while some move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. Rarely topped up, AdBlue normally goes in from a bottle, poured by someone who has to stop and think what cap it needs. The mistake grows in the gap between the two.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Limavady: how it occurs
Carelessness seldom causes it. Instead is three things coming up together.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Rock Street before work, or in the car park outside the pub in the village on the way home.
The old car's filler is where the hand reaches — but a rental car, a new motor or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That is a second factor: an unfamiliar motor.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the pour once it has started. It takes seconds, whether out in Artikelly or right in the centre of Limavady.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Be it a Limavady forecourt or a driveway over in Ballykelly, take a couple of seconds on these before anything goes in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally is not. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- Many vehicles fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on many motors. Look for it.
- The handbook. If the filler isn't by the diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at the nearest station.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
When the light goes on, anywhere around County Londonderry, use this routine.
- Pull in somewhere level, engine off, with time in hand — never hurried on the side of Crom Street.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you have located the filler and read the cap.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Limavady?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with not starting your motor. The fuel pump starts on many diesels as soon as your ignition goes on — and so leave it off. Diluting it with extra diesel won't work, because AdBlue sinks to the bottom rather than mixing — and that is where your fuel is drawn from.
The staff at the nearest petrol station, another forecourt nearby or any forecourt will normally help pushing the vehicle clear if asked. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive around Limavady.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your motor has already run. The next exit is the place to come off if you're on the M77, over 50 miles from Limavady. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Limavady is less work than a run of under 15 miles to Derry, so tell us.
What happens when we get there in Limavady
Wherever the car has stopped, whether by the local primary school, beside the centre or on your own drive, our van comes to it. The replies decide the work and the quote, and so our engineers ask what got in, about how much, and if it's run. The price is given on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Your system is then flushed thoroughly, once that tank is emptied. More than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: crystals build up, certain metals corrode, and none of it washes away unaided, no matter how long it sits. A test is at the end: before that, clean diesel is added, and your filter is flushed or changed as needed. After that our technicians fire it up and make sure it runs smoothly before leaving.
Unstarted vehicles usually mean a half-hour job from arrival. The equipment is safe on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a driveway after dark. No money upfront; you settle up that day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Before we get there, take a look at your policy; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Limavady and where it is
Limavady is a town in County Londonderry, situated in the north-west of Northern Ireland, approximately 14.8 miles from Derry. Limavady sits in a relatively low-lying area, with an elevation of around 17 metres, and is surrounded by nearby places such as Artikelly, Shanvey, and Drumraighland. Limavady has a population of around 6066 people, predominantly living in detached housing.
AdBlue drains across County Londonderry, Limavady included
Limavady is a town, and our vans that cover it also work the towns around it, Shanvey and Drumraighland among them, across the BT postcode area. Fastest of all: give a BT49 0 postcode for our van.
Your car doesn't need to shift. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to the green space at the edge of the village, a side street near a street just off the centre: our technicians drain it where it is. Assuming doesn't help behind the far end of the built-up part, on a border, or anywhere awkward to pin down; ring and ask.
Limavady motorists: the short version
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere in County Londonderry, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — and so leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103.