Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Mullaghbrack
Keep the engine and ignition off and call 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Around Mullaghbrack, catching it before the engine runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. Nothing happened yet? Below, the rest of the page covers the why it takes place and the how to prevent it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
No single fluid but two: that's how many modern diesels around Mullaghbrack and Richhill carry, with diesel for your engine. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has its own filler. Many of cars have a single flap for the two, whereas some put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is filled far less regularly, usually from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
Mullaghbrack: how AdBlue in the diesel tank happens
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from your car, and running dry means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Heugh Road, perhaps at the pub in the village on the way home after work.
Next, your hand goes for the cap it knew on the old vehicle — 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, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it takes place in Markethill or the middle of Mullaghbrack, it is the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Look at these before pouring, at a forecourt in Mullaghbrack or a driveway over in Edenaveys. Seconds, that's all.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many motors, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Look for it.
- The handbook says which it is when your filler is not next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- 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.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
For the day the light comes on — wherever you are around County Armagh — a simple routine to use.
- Pull in somewhere level, engine off, with time in hand — never rushing on the side of Dunskey Street.
- 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. Where the two sit under a flap, make sure it's shut before the bottle comes up.
- Slowly does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the car, close the cap and check a second time that the diesel cap was never came off.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Step five is off limits.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Mullaghbrack?
The short order of things, beginning with no starting the engine. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Filling up with diesel will not thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of your tank, right where the fuel is taken from.
Ask the attendants to help push the car away from the pump if you're on a forecourt — the the nearest petrol station, the another forecourt nearby or somewhere else. Your own drive around Mullaghbrack is the place it stays.
Already run? Stop once it is safe, then switch off. On the M77, over 50 miles from Mullaghbrack, that means the next junction. Distance counts — a short hop across Mullaghbrack makes a smaller job than driving under 10 miles towards Armagh — so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival in Mullaghbrack, and what occurs next
We come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside the local primary school, close to the centre or on your own driveway. Our engineers ask what went in, roughly how much, and if it's run, because those replies decide this work and the price. On the call itself, you are told the price — ahead of dispatch.
The 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, so it doesn't wash out on its own. Testing comes last: before that, fresh diesel is added, and the filter is cleaned or replaced as needed. Before leaving, our technicians fire it up and make sure that it's running smoothly.
Unstarted cars usually need a half-hour job after the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a live forecourt, and hushed enough for a residential street after dark. Your insurer will ask for the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both once the job is done. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. Wrong-fuel cover is part of many insurance policies — and so use the wait to look at yours.
About Mullaghbrack, for a moment
Mullaghbrack is a locality in County Armagh, situated inland at an elevation of 98 metres, approximately 5.4 miles from the city of Armagh. Mullaghbrack is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its rural setting. Mullaghbrack lies near several nearby settlements, including Markethill, Hamiltonsbawn, and Loughgilly, and is home to around 704 residents. Mullaghbrack is located about 329.8 miles northwest of London, in the heart of Northern Ireland's countryside.
AdBlue drains across County Armagh, Mullaghbrack included
Mullaghbrack is a small village, and our vans that cover it also work the places around it, Hamiltonsbawn and Loughgilly among them, across the BT postcode area. Give a postcode that starts BT60 1, and the van gets there quickest.
Your car remains where it is. The drain takes place on the spot, whether a driveway, a street near a street just off the centre, or a lay-by towards the green space at the edge of the village. Awkward to pin down, like the back of the far end of the built-up part? By a county line? Asking is better than assuming, so phone.
For Mullaghbrack people, the short version
Tip nothing until you've read the cap. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it where it stands, anywhere in County Armagh: keep it off and call 0333 366 0103.