Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Moneyglass
Motor off, ignition off: that's how you start if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. The trouble starts once it is sucked through the pump — it will not burn, and it won't combine with diesel. In Moneyglass, AdBlue in a diesel tank caught before the motor runs usually means a drain and a thorough flush, just where your car is. First, call us on 0333 366 0103.
Your next steps straight away, Moneyglass: AdBlue in the diesel tank
To do:
- Pull the keys out, so no one switches the ignition on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere close.
- So you can give us which liquid it was and roughly what quantity, keep your receipt or the empty bottle.
- The van locates you fastest with a postcode starting BT41 3, or just the name of a street close by, and so call from the car.
Things not to do:
- Don't start your motor, even for a moment to shift the car.
- Do not switch the ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Pouring in extra diesel doesn't help: AdBlue settles out instead of blending.
- Leave it where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short distance along Wallace Cottages.
- Don't try to drain the car yourself by the roadside.
Moving the car away from the island is a job for attendants to help with, whichever Moneyglass forecourt you are on, the the nearest petrol station or any other. On your own drive, do not touch it at all.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
The engine is not what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. Kept in a dedicated tank, it's injected into the exhaust stream to clean the gases. A fuel pump is not made to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to go through one.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves very differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. Heavier than diesel, it drops and collects underneath it — the same place the intake draws from. When the system runs, the AdBlue is first to be pulled through. Before then it waits beneath your diesel, which is how a vehicle topped up in Toome last night and not switched on stays the simple one, as long as no one turns your key.
From there it does two kinds of harm. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that hardens in filters and narrow passages; and, since it eats at certain metals, every part it reaches keeps suffering for as long as it remains in there. By daybreak, a vehicle parked around Moneyglass with AdBlue through its pipework grows worse; where it is just inside that tank, nothing changes. Water protects nothing. The injection pump and each injector depend on diesel running past them, and so the water part harms them by itself.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is commonly more significant than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol by mistake at the another forecourt nearby, and the problem is thinned fuel. Harm only comes from running on it. Mixed into the diesel and left inside that tank, it causes nothing.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely wrong substance. It can't just be run through, since it doesn't burn. It does not stay mixed, and so it can't be diluted. And crystals and corrosion do not wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting your engine "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether your car is in Ballymaguigan or the middle of Moneyglass.
As with petrol, there is good news. Anywhere in County Antrim your car has come to rest, an unrun motor means the AdBlue still in the reservoir: the easiest part of any fuel system to empty.
Moneyglass: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
After dark, two caps side by side — the AdBlue one and the diesel one, now and then behind a single flap — can appear the same. Nobody intends it; many designs invite it. A bottle picked up while heading home and tipped in outside the house, rather than at the filling station, is the usual route.
A few familiar ways account for most cases. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up happens in a hurry outside the local primary school. Near Dunaverty Court, a driver tips a bottle in at home after work. Another version: darkness, the car park outside the pub in the village, and someone opening that flap for the first time.
The least known vehicles get it most — rentals, new ones, company ones, and the spare motor of a family with both fuel types. Same slip, an identical first step — leave it switched off — anywhere you are around Moneyglass or the rest of County Antrim.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Moneyglass, and the motor started?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer inside your tank. Via the filter, along the lines, and — with any running — into the high-pressure pump and each injector: that's how far it travels.
Rough running, smoke from the exhaust, dropping power, dashboard lights or stalling: each might appear, maybe midway across Moneyglass or coming back from the green space at the edge of the village. Once you safely can, pull over then switch it off — without turning it on again to see. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
Leave the M77, over 50 miles from Moneyglass, at the first junction and stop safely, rather than carrying on.
Distance matters: each mile carries the AdBlue further in, so heading for Belfast, under 25 miles away, gives a far bigger job than crossing Moneyglass to the car park by the centre. Tell us about how far it had come.
We do all of the flushing where the car has come to a stop, and once your engine has run there is more of it. Very seldom does it leave permanent damage when it's caught early.
Moneyglass: how AdBlue is emptied from a diesel
A street beside a street just off the centre, a driveway, a lay-by or a filling station: wherever your vehicle has stopped around Moneyglass, we come to it. Three replies shape the work, so first our technicians ask which fluid went in, roughly the amount, and if your engine has run.
The contaminated diesel and the urea leave together after that tank is emptied, on the spot. A careful flush matters much more after AdBlue than with petrol, because residue will not wash away on its own. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Most of these jobs are a half-hour job once our technicians arrive, if your engine has not run. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Fresh diesel goes in to prime your system, and that's the final step. Whether it is a parking bay at the nearest station or a drive in Moneyglass, that is where our engineers fire it up and you head off. It's checked on clean diesel to make sure it runs correctly before we head off. As the job is done in full where your car is, a workshop never comes into it. Afterwards, you are given the paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer.
About Moneyglass and where it is
Moneyglass is a small locality in County Antrim, situated inland at an elevation of approximately 40 metres. Moneyglass lies near several nearby settlements, including Grange Corner, Groggan, and Creagh, and is located about 23 miles from Belfast. Moneyglass has a population of around 880 people, predominantly living in detached housing. Moneyglass is also relatively distant from London, at around 345 miles away.
AdBlue drains across County Antrim, Moneyglass included
Grange Corner, Groggan and Creagh are among the towns around Moneyglass that the same teams serve, together with most of County Antrim beyond, throughout the BT postcode area. If you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask rather than assuming.
No moving is needed. In Moneyglass, a small village, a van that comes to you fits: the vehicle is drained where it stands, whether on a driveway, a residential street, a parking area or a filling station.
Moneyglass: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Not one flat figure could be fair, because each job differs. Three things shift the price: whether your engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where your car is. That last one rests on whether a van can reach it safely, and an open driveway is easier than a tight spot behind the far end of the built-up part.
That is why each call from Moneyglass starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what was put in, how much, and whether it's run. Given those replies, a range shrinks to a single firm number.
You hear that price by phone, before anyone heads out, and you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Look at your insurance while we are on the way: plenty carry misfuelling cover.
Still next to your car around Moneyglass?
Leaving your vehicle alone is, right now, the best thing open to you. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Tell us it was AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel handles it, in Moneyglass or anywhere within County Antrim.