Ravernet: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
Motor off, ignition off: that's how you start if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. Urea dissolved in water is all AdBlue is. Unlike fuel, it neither ignites nor mixes, and nothing starts till your engine pulls it through. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Ravernet, is normally what AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it is caught before your motor has run. Before you do anything else, phone 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Ravernet: the first few minutes
To do:
- Keys out — then nobody can power anything on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere near.
- Hold on to the till receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what went in and about how much.
- Tell us a postcode starting BT26 6, or whichever street is nearest, and the van reaches you straight — so ring from wherever you stand.
Things not to do:
- No starting the motor — not briefly, not to reposition the car.
- Don't switch the ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- No extra fuel on top. The AdBlue won't blend, and so it is wasted.
- Keep the vehicle where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short stretch down Dunskey Street.
- Do not try to drain the car yourself at the kerbside.
The attendants on duty at any Ravernet forecourt — the the nearest petrol station included — will usually help rolling it clear if you ask. Parked on your own drive? Then it stays just as it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Made for your exhaust, AdBlue has no business in the engine. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is fed into the exhaust, where it treats the gas. Nothing in a fuel pump is made for this liquid — and no part of it was intended to travel through one.
Tipped in with the diesel, it keeps apart rather than mixing — quite unlike fuel. Denser than diesel, it sinks and collects underneath it — the same spot the intake draws from. Simplest of all: a vehicle that got AdBlue in Keshbridge last night and hasn't turned since. The liquid waits at the foot of your tank, undrawn — though it will be first through once your motor starts, before any diesel at all.
Once it's pulled in, the damage comes in two forms. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it's corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, and so it keeps running on the components it gets to for as long as it remains there. Pipes holding AdBlue mean harm overnight for a car sitting around Ravernet. Just inside the tank, it stays the same. The water in it does damage of its own: the high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's commonly worse than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the another forecourt nearby and you have a fault of thin fuel. Blended into the diesel and left unused, it is no threat for now; running your engine is the harm.
AdBlue in a diesel is a fault of the wrong substance altogether. Because it does not burn, running it through isn't an option. Nor can it be watered down, since it separates again — and the next fill will not rinse away deposits or corrosion. So the flush counts for more here, and turning the key "to see", in the heart of Ravernet or out in Annahilt, costs more than nearly any other slip.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Not run? Then the AdBlue sits just inside your tank, the simplest bit of the entire system to clear, wherever the vehicle has stopped in County Down.
Ravernet: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
After dark, two caps together — the AdBlue one and the diesel one, occasionally behind a single flap — can appear the same. No one intends it; many layouts invite it. A bottle bought while heading home and tipped in at home, rather than at the forecourt, is the usual story.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. The top-up gets rushed outside the local primary school, after your dash lit up with a warning while the children were taken off. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off South Crescent. One more pattern: darkness, a pub car park outside the pub in the village, and someone using that flap the first time.
It comes up most in a rental, a brand-new car, a company motor, or the spare motor of a family with one of each fuels — the cars drivers use the least. Keep it off: that's the first response to an identical mistake, wherever around Ravernet or the rest of County Down you are.
Ravernet: started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
The AdBlue has left that tank, then. Via the fuel filter, through the pipework, and — with any running time — into the high-pressure pump and each injector: that's how far it has gone.
Lumpy running, smoke from the exhaust, lost power, dashboard warnings or cutting out: each may show up, perhaps midway across Ravernet or returning from the green space at the edge of the village. Pull over when safe. Turn off. Leave the vehicle off instead of restarting it to check. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
On the M77, over 50 miles from Ravernet, the next junction is where to exit, and anywhere safe is where to stop — not driving on.
Distance matters: each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in, so driving for Lisburn, under 5 miles away, gives a much bigger job than crossing Ravernet to the car park by the centre. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
There's more to clean out once the motor has been started, and our engineers do all of it where the vehicle has come to a stop. Caught early, it very rarely leaves lasting damage.
Clearing AdBlue in a diesel in Ravernet: what it takes
Wherever it has stopped around Ravernet — a forecourt, a layby, a driveway, a street by a street just off the centre — our van comes to the vehicle. Three replies shape the job, and so before anything else our engineers ask which fluid was put in, about the amount, and whether your motor has turned over.
Then your tank is drained where the car waits, and so the polluted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. A full flush matters far more after AdBlue than after petrol, because what remains will not clear away on its own. Fresh diesel goes in after the fuel filter is cleaned — or swapped, if it needs to be — and after that the vehicle is tested. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour visit once we get there, provided your motor hasn't run. Explosion-proof pumps make a live forecourt safe to work on, and they run quiet enough to spare the street at night.
Lastly, the fuel system is primed with fresh diesel. Firing it up comes next, and then you set off from where your car is parked, at the nearest station or on a driveway in Ravernet. It is tested on new diesel to make sure it runs correctly before we go. No garage is required at any point, with the entire job done on the spot. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report later, which is what insurers ask for.
About Ravernet, briefly
Ravernet is a small locality in County Down, situated inland near the city of Lisburn. Ravernet has a relatively low elevation of 96 metres and is characterised by detached housing. Ravernet is close to several nearby places, including Hillsborough, Lambeg, and Drumlough, and is about 3 miles from Lisburn. Ravernet is a residential area with a population of around 618 people.
AdBlue drains across County Down, Ravernet included
AdBlue jobs around Ravernet are passed to teams that serve the towns near it — Hillsborough, Lambeg plus Drumlough — and most of County Down beyond, throughout BT postcodes. Phone and check rather than guess when you are close to a border, or anywhere tricky to pin down.
No towing is needed. In Ravernet, a small village, a van that comes to you works: the vehicle is drained on the spot, whether in a driveway, a residential street, a parking area or a forecourt.
Ravernet: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
There is no honest single quote, because the jobs aren't the same. The price changes first with how long, if at all, the engine has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that was put in. After that it turns on where the car is and whether our van can reach it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight gap behind the far end of the built-up part.
Which fluid got in, how much, plus whether the engine ran: each Ravernet call begins by asking exactly those, before a figure, never afterwards. Once they are known, a range becomes one fixed number.
The price is quoted on the call, before anyone sets off; payment happens on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
In Ravernet and still beside the car?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to the vehicle. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Tell us it's AdBlue, about how big an amount, and whether the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel takes over, in Ravernet or anywhere within County Down.