Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Ringsend: Why It Occurs
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case set this page aside for now, leave the ignition and motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Around Ringsend, finding it before the engine runs usually leaves draining and a thorough flush where it stands. Not happened yet? Below, the rest of the page covers the why it happens and the ways to prevent it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of modern diesels in Garvagh, like those in Ringsend, carry on two liquids; the motor takes only your diesel. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it.
Each tank has its own filler. Some cars keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others have the two together under one flap. Diesel gets filled on each filling station visit, week in, week out. Much less often, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. It's in the gap that the error happens.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs in Ringsend
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the car drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Rock Street before work, or in the car park at the pub in the village on the way home.
New-to-you motors come next, too. Hire cars, new cars and company cars put their fillers differently, and the hand goes for the cap used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the pour after it has started. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Ringsend or out in Ballerin.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
A few seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Articlave or a forecourt in Ringsend.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally is not. Read it instead of going by position.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many motors say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says which it is if your filler isn't next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at the nearest station.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
Wherever across County Londonderry the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Switch off after you park — level ground, engine off, and not in a rush beside Bayview Street at the roadside.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing it. It sounds daft. It works.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the vehicle, shut the cap and check again that your diesel cap was never opened off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Do not go on to stage five.
Ringsend: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with no starting your engine. Keep the ignition off too, since on many diesels switching it on alone runs the pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is drawn from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
On a forecourt — the nearest petrol station, another forecourt nearby or any other — the staff will usually help push the vehicle clear, if you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around Ringsend.
Already started? Pull over once it's safe, then switch off. Ringsend lies over 50 miles from the M77; on it, use the next exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Derry, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Ringsend.
Our arrival in Ringsend, and what happens next
Anywhere the car came to rest, whether by the local primary school, near the centre or at home, the van comes to it. Both the work and our quote depend on three replies — what liquid, what amount, and if it's run — so our engineers ask. You get that price by phone, before anybody sets off.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the whole system. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of that washes away unaided. That is why it matters more. A test comes at the end: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is flushed or changed as needed. We don't go until it has been started and is running correctly.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour after our engineers arrive, provided your motor hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a busy forecourt yet quiet at night beside a house. No money in advance; you settle up that day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. While we travel, take a look at your policy; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Ringsend itself
Ringsend is a small locality in County Londonderry, situated inland at an elevation of 134 metres. Ringsend lies near the villages of Ballerin, Aghadowey, and Macosquin, and is approximately 22 miles from the city of Derry. Ringsend is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its rural setting. Ringsend is a relatively small community, with a population of around 593 people.
AdBlue drains around Ringsend and across County Londonderry
As a small village, Ringsend has the same vans as nearby areas — Aghadowey, Macosquin — right through BT postcodes and the surrounding area around them. Quote a postcode beginning BT51 4, and the van arrives quickest.
Your car remains put. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to a street just off the centre, a lay-by on the way to the green space at the edge of the village, a driveway. Guessing doesn't help at the back of the far end of the built-up part, on a border, or anywhere awkward to describe; phone and check.
In short, for Ringsend people
Tip nothing until you've read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Leave the vehicle switched off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, throughout County Londonderry.