AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Whiterock: Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It
Keep your engine and ignition off then call 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. In Whiterock, finding it before the engine turns usually means a drain and a full flush where it stands. Here before the event? In that case what follows covers why it comes about and how to stop it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel goes to your motor — yet plenty of newer diesels driven round Whiterock and Shrigley hold another fluid as well. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
Different tanks, separate fillers. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is filled at the pump all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less frequently, usually from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in the gap between the two.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank happen in Whiterock?
Carelessness rarely causes it. What does is three things coming up at once.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off High Row before work, or in the car park at the pub in the village on the way home.
Then the vehicle is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
No part halts the pour once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it takes place in Killinchy or the middle of Whiterock, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Check these before pouring, on a forecourt around Whiterock or a drive out in Greyabbey. Seconds, that's all.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally is not. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- On plenty of motors, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Look inside the fuel flap: plenty of cars have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside the nearest station, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around County Down that is.
- Pull in on level, motor off, with time to spare — never rushing on the side of B7065.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, yes, yet it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the vehicle on.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before you start your car, shut the cap and look again that the diesel cap was never came off.
Spot at step two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? So stop just there. Don't go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Whiterock?
Brief list, then. Top of that: the motor remains off. Leave your ignition off as well, since on plenty of diesels it by itself runs your pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is drawn from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
Ask the staff to help roll the vehicle away from the pump if you are at a forecourt — the the nearest petrol station, the another forecourt nearby or anywhere else. At home in Whiterock? Then the car remains where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the engine has already run. On the M77, over 50 miles from Whiterock, that means the next junction. A short hop across Whiterock is a smaller job than a run towards Belfast, under 15 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
When our technicians arrive in Whiterock, what happens?
Anywhere your car came to rest, be it outside the local primary school, near the centre or at home, the van comes to it. Those answers decide this work and the price, so our engineers ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether it's run. That price is given on the call, before any van leaves.
The fuel system is then rinsed thoroughly, once that tank is cleared. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and neither clears away unaided. Hence it matters more. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. The engine is fired up next and checked to confirm it runs correctly, all before our technicians head off.
Unrun cars usually need a half-hour job after the moment we arrive. The kit is fine on a busy forecourt, and quiet enough for a residential street after dark. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. Wrong-fuel cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Whiterock itself
Whiterock is a small coastal locality in County Down, situated near the shores of Strangford Lough. Whiterock has a low elevation of around 9 metres, and its detached housing stock reflects its rural character. Whiterock is close to several nearby villages, including Killinchy, Balloo, and Kircubbin, and is within commuting distance of Belfast.
Whiterock and County Down: AdBlue drains across the area
As a coastal area, Whiterock has the same vans as surrounding places — Balloo, Kircubbin — all the way across BT postcodes and the surrounding area around them. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting BT23 6.
No need to shift your car. Wherever it sits — near a street just off the centre, on a lay-by heading to the green space at the edge of the village, at home — that's where it gets drained. Awkward to explain, like the back of the far end of the built-up part? By a border? Checking is better than guessing, and so phone.
For Whiterock people, the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it where it is, anywhere in County Down: switch the car off and ring 0333 366 0103.