How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Moy
Keep the engine and ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Caught before the engine runs, it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Moy. The rest of this page explains why it occurs and how to ensure it doesn't — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of newer diesels on the roads round Moy and Killyman carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the motor. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, and there a spray cleans the gas.
Every tank has a filler of its own. Under one flap, side by side: that is the arrangement on a lot of cars. On others, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel goes in on every forecourt call-out, week in, week out. The AdBlue side is filled far less commonly, normally from a bottle, and normally by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. The slip lives in that gap.
Moy: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
Hurry follows from the warning. The car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a driveway off Heugh Road, or heading home in the car park outside the pub in the village.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old motor — because a hire car, a new car or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the tip after it has started. It takes a few seconds, whether out in Charlemont or right in the centre of Moy.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Whether a Moy forecourt or a driveway out in Clonmore, spend a few seconds on these before any is poured in.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- The size. On plenty of motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Open the flap and look for a label — many motors show what belongs in each filler right there.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler is if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside the nearest station, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Wherever around County Armagh the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Chalet Road, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park and switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- The diesel cap stays on. When the two sit under a flap, confirm it's shut before the bottle comes up.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Shut the cap, then check once more — making sure your diesel filler remained shut the whole time. After that, start the vehicle.
Discover during the second or third step that the bottle went in the diesel tank? That's where you stop. Don't go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Moy?
The short order of things, beginning with not starting your motor. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch it on. Topping up with diesel won't thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the base of your tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
At a forecourt — the nearest petrol station, another forecourt nearby or another — the staff will usually help roll your car clear, if you ask. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway in Moy.
When your motor has been run by now, pull over safely then switch the car off. The next exit means the place to come off if you are on the M77, over 50 miles from Moy. A short hop across Moy is a smaller job than a run towards Armagh, under 10 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival around Moy, and what takes place next
We come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside the local primary school, near the centre or on your own driveway. Those replies decide this work and our quote, and so our engineers ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it's run. During the phone call itself, you are told our price — ahead of dispatch.
Your system is then flushed thoroughly, once your tank is drained. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own. Once your filter has been cleaned — or renewed, if needed — fresh diesel is added, and then your car gets tested. We don't leave until it has been started and is running smoothly.
If the motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork an insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Before we get there, take a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Moy
Moy is a locality in County Armagh, situated inland at an elevation of 32 metres, approximately 6.9 miles from the city of Armagh. Moy lies near several nearby settlements, including Charlemont, Collegeland, and Blackwatertown, and is characterized by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock. Moy is home to around 1127 residents, making it a small but distinct community in the region.
AdBlue drains across County Armagh, Moy included
Throughout BT postcodes, our teams covering Moy — a small village — work the surrounding spots too, Blackwatertown and Collegeland included. Fastest of all: give a BT71 7 postcode to the van.
Moving your car isn't necessary. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near a street just off the centre, a lay-by on the way to the green space at the edge of the village, a driveway. Awkward to pin down, like the back of the far end of the built-up part? Close to a border? Checking beats assuming, and so ring.
In short, for Moy motorists
Before you tip, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere across County Armagh, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway — and so leave the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103.