Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Mounthill
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and the ignition off and call 0333 366 0103. Usually, if your motor hasn't turned, it's emptied and thoroughly flushed where your car is in Mounthill. The rest of this page covers why it takes place and how to make sure it does not — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Plenty of newer diesels in Magheramorne, like those in Mounthill, run on two fluids; the engine takes just the diesel. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Filling your diesel side at the pump happens all the time. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side gets topped up — normally from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank happens around Mounthill
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the car, and running out means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off B738, or at the pub in the village on the way home that evening.
Then, the hand goes for the cap it knew on the old car — because a rental car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers where your last one did not.
No part stops the tip after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Mounthill or out in Glenoe.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Whether a Mounthill forecourt or a drive over in Drains Bay, spend a few seconds over these before anything goes in.
- Check the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally are not.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Lift the flap and check for a label — many motors show which goes in which inlet just there.
- The handbook shows where it is when the filler is not next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at the nearest station.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around County Antrim that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Heugh Road, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park then switch off properly.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, yes, but it does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, and check once more — making sure the diesel filler remained shut throughout. Only then, start the car.
Discover at the second or third step that AdBlue went in the wrong tank? That's where you stop. Step five is out.
Mounthill: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Brief order, then. First: the engine stays off. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch it on. Thinning it with extra diesel fails, because AdBlue settles to the bottom instead of mixing — and that is where your fuel is pulled from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it is the the nearest petrol station or the another forecourt nearby, ask the attendants to help roll the vehicle clear of the pump. At home around Mounthill? So the vehicle stays where it is.
Already started? Pull over when it is safe, then turn off. Come off the M77 — over 50 miles out of Mounthill — at the first exit. A short hop across Mounthill is a smaller job than a run towards Belfast, under 15 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
Mounthill: what occurs when our technicians arrive
Wherever your car came to rest, be it by the local primary school, beside the centre or on your own drive, our van comes to it. We ask what went in, roughly how much, and if it has run, since those answers decide the work and the quote. You hear that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Your system is then rinsed thoroughly, once the tank is emptied. 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. Testing is at the end: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is cleaned or changed if necessary. Next our engineers start it and make sure it runs smoothly before we leave.
Unrun vehicles mostly mean a half-hour visit after the moment we arrive. The kit is fine on a live forecourt, and quiet enough for a driveway late at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It is worth checking your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Mounthill
Mounthill is a coastal locality in County Antrim, situated near the towns of Larne and Glenoe, with Mounthill being one of the smaller residential areas in the region. Mounthill sits at an elevation of 174 metres, overlooking the surrounding countryside and coastline. Mounthill is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its suburban and rural mix.
AdBlue drains across County Antrim, Mounthill included
Being a coastal area, Mounthill shares its vans nearby places — Glynn, Larne — right through BT postcodes and the surrounding area around them. Quote a postcode beginning BT40 3, and the van gets there quickest.
The car does not need to shift. The drain happens on the spot, whether a drive, a road by a street just off the centre, or a layby on the way to the green space at the edge of the village. Tricky to pin down, like the back of the far end of the built-up part? Close to a border? Asking is better than guessing, so ring.
For Mounthill motorists, the short version
Pour no AdBlue till you have read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless, leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it waits, anywhere in County Antrim.