AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Richhill? Keep It Switched Off
Engine off, ignition off: that's where you start if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. Urea dissolved in water is all AdBlue is. Unlike fuel, it neither burns nor blends, and no harm starts until the motor pulls it through. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Richhill, is usually all AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it's caught before the motor has been run. Before anything, phone us on 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Richhill: the first few minutes
Do:
- Pull the keys out, so no one switches your ignition on.
- Put the hazards on if you're at all near moving traffic.
- Keep the receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what got in and about how much.
- Tell us a postcode starting BT61 9, or whatever street lies nearest, and our van finds you directly — so call wherever you are.
Do not:
- Shifting your vehicle just a short way is no reason to fire up your engine.
- Plenty of diesels run their pump the instant the ignition comes on, so leave the vehicle off.
- Pouring in more diesel doesn't work: AdBlue separates out rather than thinning.
- Even a short way along Heugh Road is too far to drive it.
- Draining your tank on your own beside the road isn't worth trying.
Ask the people behind the counter to help you move your vehicle away from the pumps if you're at a forecourt around Richhill, whether it is the the nearest petrol station or somewhere else. Stopped on your own drive? Then it stays exactly as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not the motor. Stored in a separate tank, it is squirted into the exhaust stream to treat the fumes. A fuel pump isn't made to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to go through one.
It doesn't blend. Once it's tipped into a tank of diesel, AdBlue acts not at all like diesel. It sinks, since it is denser than diesel, and settles down where the pickup takes its fuel from. A vehicle filled on a driveway in Derryhale yesterday evening and left unstarted is the straightforward case. No pump has pulled the AdBlue up so far — though when your engine turns, that is what is pulled first, straight from the bottom of that tank.
Two kinds of damage come from there. It attacks some metals found in fuel components, attacking any part it touches until it is cleared completely. And once the water evaporates, the urea forms crystals that block filters and settle in tiny channels. A vehicle left standing around Richhill with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank is not. And there is the water: it offers no lubrication to the components that need it most — the high-pressure pump and each injector.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is regularly more major than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol by mistake at the another forecourt nearby, and this problem is thinned fuel. It mixes with your diesel, and whilst it is inside that tank it does no damage; the harm comes from running your engine on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is another matter: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. It does not burn, so it cannot simply be run through. Nor can it be thinned, because it separates again — and the next fill won't clear away crystals or corrosion. So the flush matters more here, and turning your key "to see", in the centre of Richhill or out in Annahugh, costs more than almost any other slip.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Clearing a tank is the easiest part on a fuel system, and with no running, the AdBlue remains in it — wherever in County Armagh the vehicle has stopped.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Richhill
It's not on purpose. Plenty of cars keep the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel inlet, now and then under one flap, and muddling them up is easy in poor light. Most of the time it happens with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the forecourt.
It tends to occur in a couple of familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up happens in a hurry outside the local primary school. Someone tips the bottle in at home, just off Dunskey Street, as the day ends. Or someone new to that flap tops up the car in dim light, parked in the car park outside the pub in the village.
Rented motors, new motors, fleet vehicles, or the second car in a home with both fuels: the least known vehicles get it most. Leave it off: that's the first response to the same slip, wherever around Richhill or the rest of County Armagh you are.
Richhill: started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer in the tank. Given any running, it travels to the high-pressure pump and each injector, having passed via your filter and lines.
You may see the motor running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, possibly on the way back from the green space at the edge of the village or halfway across Richhill. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart the car to check. Every start pulls more of it through.
Exit the M77, over 50 miles from Richhill, at the first junction and stop safely, not driving on.
Hopping across Richhill to the car park by the centre is one thing; driving for Armagh, under 5 miles away, is something else, since each mile carries the AdBlue deeper in. So distance counts. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
Our technicians do all of the cleaning where your car has come to a stop, and once your engine has been run there is more of it. Noticed quickly, it very rarely leaves lasting damage.
Emptying AdBlue in a diesel in Richhill: what it takes
The car remains put, whether that's a road beside a street just off the centre, a drive, a layby or a filling station around Richhill, and the van travels to it. Before anything else our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and if the motor has run, since those answers settle the work.
Next, emptying your tank right there takes out the contaminated diesel along with the AdBlue in one go. Residue from AdBlue won't flush away unaided, and so the fuel system gets a careful flush, which counts far more here than with petrol. Clean diesel goes in after your filter is flushed — or replaced, if it needs to be — and after that your car is tested. Not run? Then expect about half an hour once we are there for most jobs. The pumping gear is explosion-proof, and so a live filling station is no problem, and it is hushed enough for a residential street late at night.
Finally, your system is bled with clean diesel. You drive off as soon as our technicians have started it, and it makes no difference whether your car is on a drive around Richhill or in a space outside the nearest station. Before we leave, we confirm it's running correctly with clean diesel in. The whole job is done where the vehicle is, so it never has to go to a garage. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report later on, which is what insurers ask for.
About Richhill and where it is
Richhill is a locality in County Armagh, situated inland at an elevation of approximately 70 metres, near the city of Armagh. Richhill lies close to several nearby settlements, including Kilmore, Broomhill, and Hamiltonsbawn, and is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock. Richhill is located about 4.4 miles from Armagh and around 332.5 miles from London, making it a relatively small community in the Northern Ireland countryside.
AdBlue drains around Richhill and across County Armagh
Kilmore, Broomhill and Hamiltonsbawn are among the places around Richhill that the same vans reach, together with much of County Armagh further out, throughout the BT postcode area. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask rather than assuming.
Anywhere the vehicle sits — a drive at home, a side street, a car park, a filling station — our technicians empty it on the spot, and there's no need to bring it to us; which suits Richhill, a small village, well.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Richhill
Each job is different, and so not one fixed quote would be fair. Three things change the price: whether your engine has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where the car is. That last one comes down to whether a technician can get to it safely, and an open drive is easier than a tight spot behind the far end of the built-up part.
That is why each call from Richhill starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what went in, how much, and if it has run. Their replies shrink a range right down to a single figure.
Priced by phone before the engineer heads out, the job is paid for on the day — card or phone, nothing in advance. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
Richhill: still beside your car?
Leaving the vehicle alone is, right now, the best move open to you. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Tell us it was AdBlue, about what quantity, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel takes over, across Richhill or anywhere within County Armagh.