AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Lurgan: How It Occurs and How to Avoid It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and the ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103. Usually, if the motor has not run, it's emptied and fully cleaned where the car sits in Lurgan. The remainder of this page covers why it happens and how to ensure it does not — useful if you're reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Plenty of newer diesels on the roads about Lurgan and Waringstown carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. Its own tank holds it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, where a spray cleans the fumes.
There is a filler on every tank. Under one flap, side by side: that's the layout on many cars. On others, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. At the pump, the diesel side is topped up constantly. Seldom filled, AdBlue normally comes out of a bottle, tipped by a driver who has to stop and think which filler to use. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank happens in Lurgan
It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Haste follows from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a drive off Heugh Road, or heading home in the car park outside the pub in the village.
Unfamiliar vehicles come second, as well. Hire cars, new vehicles and company vehicles place their fillers differently, and habit goes for the cap used on the old one.
Nothing halts the pour after it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Dollingstown or the heart of Lurgan: it is the same few seconds either way.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Whether a Lurgan forecourt or a driveway over in Ballymacmaine, spend a couple of seconds on these before anything is poured in.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many cars, the AdBlue one.
- Look inside the fuel flap: many motors carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler sits if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside the nearest station? Ask the person who drove the car last before you set off, rather than once the light goes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
For the day the light appears — wherever you are in County Armagh — a routine to follow.
- Not in a rush on the side of South Crescent, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park then switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where the two sit under a flap, confirm it is closed before lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, and look once more — confirm your diesel cap remained shut throughout. Only then, start the car.
Spot at stage two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Skip stage five entirely.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Lurgan already?
Don't start the engine: that is how the short order of things begins. Don't switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Topping up with diesel won't thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the base of that tank, right where fuel is drawn from.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it's the the nearest petrol station or the another forecourt nearby, ask the attendants to help push your car clear of the pump. At home in Lurgan? So the car stays where it is.
Already run? Stop once it's safe, then switch off. On the M77, over 50 miles from Lurgan, that means the next exit. Mileage counts — a short hop across Lurgan makes a smaller job than heading under 15 miles to Lisburn — so say about how far it went.
Lurgan: what takes place when our technicians turn up
Anywhere the vehicle has stopped, whether outside the local primary school, beside the centre or on your own drive, our van travels to it. Which liquid was put in, the amount, and whether it ran: our engineers ask since the replies set both work and quote. Nobody heads out before you've heard the quote by phone.
Emptying your tank comes next, then a thorough flush of your system. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. The filter flushed or, where needed, swapped; clean diesel in; and then a check of the car. The engine is fired up next and tested to confirm it runs correctly, all before our technicians leave.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour after our engineers arrive, as long as the engine has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. Nothing in advance; you settle up on the day. At the end, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Lurgan
Lurgan is a town in County Armagh, situated in the inland area of Northern Ireland, with an elevation of 64 metres above sea level. Lurgan lies approximately 12.5 miles from Lisburn and is close to nearby places such as Dollingstown and Aghacommon. Lurgan has a population of around 19,561 people and predominantly features terraced housing. Lurgan is located about 329 miles from London, making it a significant urban centre in the region.
AdBlue drains across County Armagh, Lurgan included
Over BT postcodes, our vans covering Lurgan — a town — work the nearby locations too, Gibsons Hill and Aghacommon among them. A postcode starting BT67 9 gets our van to you fastest.
Moving your car is not necessary. 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. Guessing won't help at the back of the far end of the built-up part, on a boundary, or anywhere awkward to pin down; phone and ask.
Lurgan motorists: the short version
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in County Armagh, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — and so leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103.