Loughbrickland: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
Motor off, ignition off: that is where you start if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. Urea mixed in water is what AdBlue is. Being water-based, it won't ignite and won't blend with diesel; trouble just starts when the pump starts pulling it. In Loughbrickland, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before your motor runs usually comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, right where the car is. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank in Loughbrickland
Do these:
- Pocket your keys, and that stops anyone turning the electrics on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere close.
- Keep the receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what was put in and roughly how much.
- Our van finds you quickest with a postcode starting BT32 3, or simply the name of a street close by, so phone from the car.
Things not to do:
- No starting your motor — not for a second, not to shift the car.
- Switching the key to ignition alone starts your pump running on plenty of diesels. Skip it.
- AdBlue does not dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding more fuel won't weaken it.
- Leave the car where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short way along South Crescent.
- No emptying it yourself, at all, on the verge.
On a forecourt around Loughbrickland, whether it's the the nearest petrol station or another one, ask the attendants to help you push your car away from the petrol pump. On that drive, the vehicle stays exactly as it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
The motor is not what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. From a separate reservoir it goes directly to the exhaust, treating what your engine lets out. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is designed to handle it.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves really differently from fuel. It does not mix in. The intake takes fuel from the deepest part of the tank, and that's exactly where AdBlue settles: as it is heavier than diesel, it sinks. Easiest of all: one that got AdBlue in Tullylish last night and hasn't been started since. The liquid sits at the foot of the tank, untouched — but it would be the first thing through if your motor starts, before any diesel at all.
After it's sucked in, the harm takes two forms. What remains when the water evaporates is urea, which forms crystals: they lodge in narrow passages and clog filters. On top of that, it attacks some metals in a fuel system, and keeps going until it is flushed out. A motor left sitting around Loughbrickland with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank is not. The water in it causes harm of its own: the high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water offers them nothing.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is regularly more serious than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the another forecourt nearby and you have an issue of thin fuel. Damage only comes from running on it. Mixed into your diesel and left in the tank, it causes none.
AdBlue in a diesel is another problem: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. Because it does not burn, running it through isn't an option. It does not stay mixed, and so it cannot be diluted. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the motor "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether the vehicle is in Annaclone or the middle of Loughbrickland.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Anywhere around County Down your vehicle has stopped, an unrun motor means the AdBlue still inside the tank: the easiest part of any fuel system to clear.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Loughbrickland?
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of motors sits right next to the diesel filler, sometimes under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. A bottle picked up when driving home and tipped in at home, instead of at the forecourt, is the typical story.
A few familiar ways cover most cases. The refill gets rushed outside the local primary school, after the dash lit up with a warning as the kids were dropped in. Someone pours the bottle in outside their house, right off Heugh Road, as the day ends. Otherwise, in dim light by the pub in the village, your vehicle gets topped up by someone opening that flap the first time.
It crops up most in a rental, a brand-new vehicle, a fleet vehicle, or the spare car in a family with one of each fuel types — the cars drivers use the least. Wherever you are in Loughbrickland or the rest of County Down, it's the same error and the same first answer: leave the car off.
Started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Loughbrickland?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer in that tank. Your filter and pipework have had it sucked along, and some running carries it on to the injection pump and every injector.
Watch for lumpy running, smoke, falling power, lights on your dash, or a cut-out — coming back from the green space at the edge of the village, say, or part way across Loughbrickland. Once safe, pull over then turn it off — without turning it on again to test. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
Leave the M77, over 50 miles from Loughbrickland, at the first junction and park somewhere safe, rather than carrying on.
How far it went matters. A couple of hundred yards across Loughbrickland to the car park by the centre is a very different job from a run towards Newry, under 10 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the fuel system with each mile. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
Our engineers do all of the rinsing where the vehicle has ended up, and once the motor has run there is more of it. Long-term damage is very rare if it's noticed early.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Loughbrickland?
A road beside a street just off the centre, a driveway, a layby or a filling station: anywhere your car has stopped in Loughbrickland, our technicians travel to it. Before anything else we ask what got in, roughly how much, and if your motor has been run, since those answers determine this work.
Right there, your tank is then emptied, and both the contaminated diesel and the urea come out at once. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, flushing matters: the whole system is flushed right through because residue won't wash out unaided. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. If the motor has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once our engineers are there. The pumping gear is explosion-proof, so a live filling station is no problem, and it's hushed enough for a residential street after dark.
Priming the fuel system with new diesel comes last. Firing it up comes next, and then you head off from where the car is parked, at the nearest station or on a drive in Loughbrickland. The check before our engineers head off is that it runs correctly on fresh diesel. The entire job is done where your car is, so it never needs to be taken to a workshop. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come at the end.
About Loughbrickland, for a moment
Loughbrickland is a small locality in County Down, situated inland at an elevation of 76 metres, approximately 9.8 miles from Newry. Loughbrickland is characterized by its semi-detached housing and is located near other settlements such as Banbridge, Scarva, and Poyntzpass. Loughbrickland has a population of around 557 people and is part of the wider region of Northern Ireland, about 322 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Loughbrickland and County Down
Banbridge, Scarva and Poyntzpass are among the towns around Loughbrickland that the same vans serve, together with much of County Down further out, over the BT postcode area. Assuming won't help close to a border or somewhere tricky to pin down; phone and check.
No moving is needed. In Loughbrickland, a small village, a van that comes to you works: the vehicle is emptied where it stands, be it in a driveway, a side street, a car park or a filling station.
Loughbrickland: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Not one flat figure could be fair, since every job is different. The price shifts first with how long, if at all, your engine has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that was put in. After that it depends on where your car is and whether a van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight gap behind the far end of the built-up part.
That is why each call from Loughbrickland starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and whether it has run. Once those are answered, a range becomes a single fixed number.
The price is quoted on the call, before anyone sets off; settling up comes on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. Look at your insurance while we are on the way: plenty include misfuelling cover.
Loughbrickland: still alongside the car?
In that case, touch nothing — that is the most helpful move available. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Say it's AdBlue, about what quantity, and whether it ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel takes over, in Loughbrickland or anywhere within County Down.