Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Tamlaght
Motor off, ignition off: that is how you begin if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. Water with urea dissolved in it: that is AdBlue. It does not burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the harm it does begins when your fuel system draws it in. If your motor has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally drained and carefully rinsed where the vehicle sits in Tamlaght. Before anything, call us on 0333 366 0103.
What to do straight away, Tamlaght: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Things to do:
- Pull the keys out, and so nobody switches the ignition on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all near.
- So you can tell us which fluid it was and about what quantity, keep your receipt or the empty bottle.
- Call right where you are. Say a BT46 5 postcode or the closest street sign, and no one has to search for you.
Do not:
- Not even for a second, and not to roll your vehicle: the engine stays off.
- Your ignition stays off: on lots of diesels, turning it on is enough to start your fuel pump.
- Pouring in more diesel does not work: AdBlue settles out instead of thinning.
- Even a short distance down B842 is too far to drive the vehicle.
- Do not try to drain the vehicle yourself at the roadside.
Moving the car away from the island is a job for attendants to help with, wherever Tamlaght forecourt you are on, the the nearest petrol station or any other. At home, your car remains exactly as it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Not your motor but the exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. Kept in a separate tank, it is injected into the exhaust stream to clean the fumes. A fuel pump is not made to take it, and AdBlue was never intended to go through one.
It doesn't blend. After it's poured into the tank, AdBlue acts nothing like diesel. It's heavier than diesel, so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of that tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. The first thing your fuel system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Culnady last night, and has not been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has sucked it in.
From there it causes two kinds of harm. What remains when the water evaporates is urea, which turns into crystals: they lodge in tiny passages and clog filters. On top of that, it attacks certain metals in a fuel system, and carries on till it's flushed out. Lines holding AdBlue mean damage by morning for a vehicle sitting around Tamlaght. Only inside the tank, it stays the same. Diesel protects the high-pressure pump and every injector as it passes; water offers no lubrication, and that is a separate form of harm.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is commonly worse than petrol
Top up a diesel with petrol in error over at the another forecourt nearby, and the problem is diluted fuel. Blended through your diesel and left still, it's harmless for now; using the motor is the damage.
AdBlue in a diesel is a fault of the wrong substance altogether. It doesn't burn, and so it can't simply be run through. Crystals and corrosion stay after the following fill, and AdBlue splits again out of the diesel, so thinning it won't work. That is why the flush matters so much, and trying your engine "to see" costs more with AdBlue than nearly any other slip — in Portglenone or the centre of Tamlaght equally.
As with petrol, there's good news. Never started? Then the AdBlue sits only in your tank, the simplest bit of the whole system to clear, wherever your vehicle has stopped across County Londonderry.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Tamlaght?
After dark, two caps together — the AdBlue one and the diesel cap, occasionally under one flap — can look the same. Nobody intends it; plenty of layouts invite it. Mostly it occurs with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the forecourt.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. The refill is rushed outside the local primary school, because your dash flashed with a warning while the children were taken in. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Dunaverty Court. Else, in dim light by the pub in the village, your car is refilled by a driver using that flap for the first time.
The least familiar vehicles get it most — rentals, new cars, company ones, and the other vehicle of a home with both fuel types. Anywhere around County Londonderry, Tamlaght included, the mistake doesn't change, and neither does the first response: keep it off.
Started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Tamlaght?
Then that tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. With any running time, it travels to the injection pump and every injector, having passed via your filter and pipework.
Maybe returning from the green space at the edge of the village, or part way across Tamlaght, your engine might run lumpy, smoke, lose power, flash your dash or stall. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart it to check. Each start pulls more of that through.
Exit the M77, over 50 miles from Tamlaght, by the next junction and park safely, not driving on.
Every mile pushes the AdBlue further in. That's why a hop across Tamlaght to park near the centre and a drive of under 50 miles for Derry are very separate jobs. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
There is more to rinse out once the engine has been run, and we do all of it where the car has come to a stop. Caught soon, it very rarely leaves lasting damage.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Tamlaght?
A street by a street just off the centre, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt: anywhere the car has come to rest in Tamlaght, we travel to it. What was put in, about how much, plus if your motor has been run: we check first, since those shape the job.
Then your tank is cleared where the car sits, so the tainted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. What remains from AdBlue won't wash away by itself, so the fuel system gets a careful flush, which matters far more with urea than for petrol. Testing the car follows last, once clean diesel is added and your filter is flushed or, if necessary, replaced. If your engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there. The pumping gear is explosion-proof, and so a busy forecourt is no problem, and it's hushed enough for a residential street after dark.
Fresh diesel goes in to bleed your system, and that is the last step. You drive off as soon as our technicians have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether your car is on a driveway in Tamlaght or in a space by the nearest station. The test before our technicians head off is that it runs correctly on fresh diesel. No garage is needed at any stage, with the entire job done then and there. The insurer will want an engineer's report and the VAT invoice — both yours afterwards.
About Tamlaght, for a moment
Tamlaght is a small locality in County Londonderry, situated inland at an elevation of 36 metres. Tamlaght lies near the villages of Inishrush, Clady, and Glenone, and is approximately 30 miles from the city of Derry. Tamlaght has a population of around 665 people, predominantly living in detached housing. Tamlaght is located in a rural area, with the nearest major city being Derry to the north.
AdBlue drains across Tamlaght and County Londonderry
AdBlue call-outs around Tamlaght are passed to teams that cover the towns around it — Inishrush, Clady plus Glenone — and most of County Londonderry beyond, throughout BT postcodes. Ring and ask instead of guessing when you're close to a county line, or anywhere tricky to explain.
A mobile service fits Tamlaght, a small village: there's no need to bring your vehicle to us, since we empty it on the spot, in a driveway, a residential street, a parking area or a forecourt.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Tamlaght
Because each callouts vary, a flat figure wouldn't be fair. Whether your engine has run, and for how long, comes first in what changes the price. How much AdBlue got in comes next, and then the position of the car, since an open drive is simpler for a technician to get to safely than a tight gap behind the far end of the built-up part.
That's why each call from Tamlaght starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and if it has run. When they are answered, a range becomes one fixed figure.
The price is quoted during the call, before anyone sets off; payment comes on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. While the van is travelling, dig out your policy: plenty include misfuelling.
Next to the vehicle around Tamlaght, right now?
Then, the most helpful thing to do with your vehicle is to leave it. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Tell us it's AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel handles it, in Tamlaght or wherever in County Londonderry.