AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Mallusk: How It Happens and How to Stop It
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case set this page down a moment, keep the ignition and engine off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Usually, when the motor has not run, it is drained and thoroughly cleaned where the car sits in Mallusk. The remainder of this page explains why it takes place and how to make sure it does not — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Many newer diesels on the roads round Mallusk and Millbank carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
There's a filler on each tank. Other motors put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others place both together behind one flap. Diesel gets filled on every forecourt call-out, week in, week out. Far less often, the AdBlue side is topped up — normally from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank take place in Mallusk?
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, your vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Heugh Road before work, or in the car park at the pub in the village on the way home.
The old car's filler is where the hand reaches — yet a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's a second thing: a new motor.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the pour once it has started. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Mallusk or out in Craigarogan.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you tip anything, on a drive in Ballyrobert or a forecourt in Mallusk.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not its position.
- Plenty of motors give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many motors say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it is when your filler is not next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The previous driver will know. Ask as you collect a rental or company car — from the nearest station's car park, say — not once the warning appears.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
For the day the warning comes on — wherever it is across County Antrim — a routine to use.
- Pull in somewhere level, motor off, with time in hand — not hurried on the side of North Crescent.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft. It works.
- The two under a single flap? So confirm the cap on your diesel filler stays closed before lifting the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to stage five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Mallusk?
Don't start your motor: that is where the short order of things starts. Leave your ignition off as well, since on plenty of diesels it alone starts the pump. Thinning it with extra diesel won't work, since AdBlue settles to the bottom instead of blending — and that's where the fuel is pulled from.
On a forecourt — the nearest petrol station, another forecourt nearby or any other — the staff will usually help roll your car clear, if you ask. Your own driveway around Mallusk is the place it should stay.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your engine has already run. Mallusk lies over 50 miles from the M77; there, take the first exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Belfast, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Mallusk.
Mallusk: what happens when our technicians get there
Wherever your car came to rest, whether by the local primary school, beside the centre or at home, the van travels to it. Both the work and our quote depend on three replies — which liquid, which amount, and if it's run — so we ask. Nobody heads out until you've had the quote by phone.
Then that tank is cleared and the system flushed thoroughly. More than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: crystals build up, certain metals corrode, and none of that clears out on its own, however long it sits. A test comes at the end: before that, clean diesel is added, and your filter is cleaned or replaced if necessary. Before we go, our technicians start it and make sure that it is running correctly.
Using pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where your engine has not run take roughly half an hour once our technicians are there. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Mallusk
Mallusk is a locality in County Antrim, situated inland at an elevation of 119 metres, approximately 6.4 miles northwest of Belfast. Mallusk is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting the suburban expansion of the Belfast area. Mallusk sits near several nearby places, including Craigarogan, Roughfort, and Glengormley, in the greater Belfast metropolitan area.
AdBlue drains in Mallusk and across County Antrim
As a small village, Mallusk has the same vans as nearby places — Roughfort, Glengormley — all the way through BT postcodes and the wider area beyond. A postcode starting BT36 4 gets our van to you fastest.
Shifting the vehicle is not needed. The drain happens on the spot, whether a driveway, a street by a street just off the centre, or a lay-by towards the green space at the edge of the village. If you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of the far end of the built-up part, ring and ask instead of assuming.
The short version for Mallusk people
Always, the cap; then, the pour. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Leave the car switched off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, throughout County Antrim.