What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Strangford
One thing matters above all when AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and that is whether your engine has been started afterwards. Out in Cloghy or right around Strangford, an unrun engine must stay that way. Switch nothing on, phone 0333 366 0103, then count on a thorough flush after a drain, carried out just where the car sits in Strangford. Pull over the minute it is safe then turn off, if it has been run. Stage one remains the same, even if the work grows.
Below: the cases our technicians see, wherever around County Down. Pick the one that fits.
At the pump in Strangford: AdBlue in a diesel
Imagine it: standing by the petrol pump, holding the bottle, you realise the filler you took off wasn't the correct one. It might be the the nearest petrol station, or perhaps the another forecourt nearby, or another forecourt in Strangford.
Put simply: there is no better place exists to discover it. The AdBlue is in your tank and nowhere else. Nothing has sucked it in.
What to do: do not get back in and start it to clear the petrol pump. Ask the attendants to help you push your car into a parking space, keep your receipt or the bottle, and call us from the forecourt. Draining it there at the pump is possible when it can't be moved, since the equipment is explosion-proof.
AdBlue in your diesel tank on a Strangford drive?
On your dash, a warning had shown all week. Picked up a container, poured it in outside the house, binned the empty — and only then looked at the cap a second time, after the fact. Houses just off B7065 are caught out as often as anywhere else.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. Diesel and AdBlue stay apart: the AdBlue drops to the base of that tank and stays there, no matter how long it waits.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so no one moves your car in the morning. Then call. Our technicians drain the vehicle on your drive, whether that's around Strangford or out in Portaferry. Our equipment runs quietly enough not to disturb the street at night.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving around Strangford?
Filled up, drove away, and before long your motor was turning roughly, smoking, down on power, or flashing up your dash. Possibly it was on High Row, possibly on the way out towards Lisburn, under 25 miles away.
In short: the AdBlue has been sucked into your fuel system. Distance sets how deep it goes: filter and lines to begin with, then the high-pressure pump and every injector. It travels deeper with every extra mile covered and every restart.
Do this: stop anywhere sensible, then turn the engine off. On the M77, over 50 miles from Strangford, that means the next exit, not the services further on. It will not have cleared, and so there's no sense starting it again to find out. Roughly what distance did it go? Tell us as you phone.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
A week back, it was unknown to you. The AdBlue filler sits right alongside the diesel one, which you did not know, because your own motor either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Wherever you happen to be across County Down, any motorist could slip up.
In short: one extra stage on top of the cases above, and those turn on if it's run. The owner frequently has to approve any work, under many rental and fleet agreements.
Your move: rental firm or your fleet manager first, us next, because sorting it early cuts time. Keep the car off while the reply arrives, even if you are waiting at the nearest station or close to the centre.
Unsure about AdBlue in the diesel tank around Strangford?
Occasionally the fair answer is "I think so". Too light, the bottle; a hint of ammonia round the filler; no clear memory of which cap. Look familiar? The gates of the local primary school in a hurry, say, or a friend's driveway out in Shrigley.
Put simply: spillage round the filler does your motor unharmed. Inside your diesel tank, however, AdBlue damages it. If there is AdBlue in the tank, turning on your car would draw it in, and it would not tell you which either.
Next: act as though it got in, then leave your engine off. Phone and give the details: we'd sooner find a tank free of AdBlue than empty one after the motor has run.
The common ground in every Strangford AdBlue drain
The work opens the same way, whichever the case. Wherever the vehicle stands — the pub in the village's car park, a road beside a street just off the centre, a driveway, a filling station — our van gets there and asks for the liquid, the quantity, plus whether the engine has turned over. Those replies settle this work, and you get our price by phone, before anybody sets off.
Then your tank is drained and the fuel system cleaned thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not rinse out on its own. Clean diesel is put in once the fuel filter is cleaned or changed, and your car is finally checked. Where the motor hasn't been started, expect roughly half an hour once we arrive, for most jobs.
Last, our engineers start the car. Our test that it runs correctly on new diesel comes before our engineers leave. Our technicians do the entire job where your car is, and permanent damage is very unusual when it has been spotted soon. For your insurer: an engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment that day, nothing upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Strangford, briefly
Strangford is a small coastal locality in County Down, Northern Ireland, situated near the villages of Portaferry and Killyleagh. Strangford has a low elevation of around 5 metres, reflecting its position on the shoreline of Strangford Lough. Strangford is characterized by its terraced housing and quiet residential atmosphere, with nearby Ballyhornan and other settlements adding to the local community.
Strangford and County Down: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a coastal area, Strangford has the same vans as the nearby towns — Killyleagh, Ballyhornan — all the way through BT postcodes. A postcode starting BT30 7 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Centre of Strangford or a layby towards the green space at the edge of the village: either way it is, your car never needs to move at all for the drain. Our engineers drain the vehicle where it is. Phone and ask instead of guessing when you're by the far end of the built-up part, near a boundary, or anywhere awkward to pin down.
The one-line version
Engine never started: phone, and leave it alone. Started already? Stop, switch off, phone. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder whichever case, in Strangford and County Down, on 0333 366 0103.