AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Llanberis, and What to Do Next
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank comes down to one thing more than any other: if your engine has run since it went in. Not run so far? Then leave the vehicle like that, wherever your car sits — Llanberis or Terfyn. Normally this is emptying and properly purging it right there around Llanberis — and so keep your ignition and motor off and call 0333 366 0103. When your engine has been run, stop somewhere safe first, then switch the car off. A bigger job, yes, yet the identical opening move.
Below: the cases our technicians see, anywhere in Gwynedd. Choose yours.
On a Llanberis forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
You are at the petrol pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. Anywhere in Llanberis, then — Modurdy'r Wyddfa, Essar, or anywhere else nearby.
What it means: this is the best location to find out. No pump has pulled it through, so the AdBlue stays only inside the tank.
Next: resist the urge to fire it up just to move away from the pump. Three jobs: a shove into a bay with the staff assisting, the bottle saved, and a ring to us from where you stand. If it can't be shifted, it can be drained at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a busy forecourt.
At home around Llanberis with AdBlue in the diesel tank
On your dash, a reminder had shown all week. Only by the recycling, the empty bottle in hand, did you look back at the cap you'd used on the driveway. Drives close to Stryd Goodman get it as much as any other street.
Meaning? As long as your vehicle has not been driven since, it's close to the forecourt case. At the floor of the tank is exactly where AdBlue waits, because it will not mix with diesel — and a night passing makes nothing of the difference.
Next: prevent any early drive by keeping the keys in the house, then ring us. Fachwen or Llanberis: whichever your drive sits, that's where it gets cleared. Our pumping kit runs quietly enough not to disturb the street at night.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving around Llanberis?
Topped up, pulled away, and soon your motor was running roughly, smoking, down on power, or lighting up your dash. Maybe it was on Stryd Siarlot, possibly on the way out towards Bangor, under 10 miles away.
What it means: the system has sucked the AdBlue in. Distance decides how deep it gets: filter and lines first, then the injection pump and each injector. It travels further with each extra mile driven and each restart.
Pull in safely — that is the next step — then turn it off. Services farther along can wait: on the Moreton Spur, under 50 miles out of Llanberis, use the first junction. Don't restart the vehicle to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Ring us and say how far you travelled.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You've only driven the vehicle a week. The AdBlue filler is right alongside the diesel one, which you didn't know, because your own car either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. It can happen to anyone, anywhere around Gwynedd.
Meaning? Whatever case above applies too — run or unrun — and one extra stage. The owner often needs to approve the work, under many rental and company agreements.
What to do: ring the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That is quicker settled before our technicians get there than after. Stranded near Llanberis Social Club or at Bangor (Gwynedd) till someone replies, your car remains switched off throughout.
Not sure it was AdBlue in the diesel tank, Llanberis?
"I think so" is sometimes as honest answer there is. Too light, the bottle; a hint of ammonia round the filler; a hazy memory of the cap. Look familiar? The gates of the local primary school in a rush, say, or someone's driveway over in Gallt-y-foel.
Put simply: a spill round the filler leaves the engine unharmed. If it's inside the diesel tank, though, it does. You cannot tell which by turning the key, and doing so will suck in any AdBlue that is in your tank.
Your move: behave as if it got in, and never start the motor. Call us and explain what you saw; we'd rather check a tank that turns out clean than drain one that has already been run.
Every AdBlue drain around Llanberis shares these stages
No matter the case, a single start applies. Anywhere the car is — The Heights's car park, a road beside Y Festri, a drive, a filling station — the van arrives and asks for the fluid, the amount, plus whether the engine has turned over. Over the phone, before anything else, you are told the quote, and those replies shape the job too.
Draining your tank comes next, followed by a careful flush — more vital with urea than with petrol, because crystals and corrosion will not go on their own, however long you wait. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Where your motor has not been started, allow about half an hour once we arrive, for most cases.
We fire it up at the end. Our engineers confirm it runs smoothly on fresh diesel before leaving. The entire job is done where the vehicle is, and when it is spotted early, long-term damage is very uncommon. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Check your insurance before we're en route: misfuelling cover is included in plenty of policies.
About Llanberis itself
Llanberis is a village situated on the shores of Llyn Padarn, a large lake in northwest Wales, and is surrounded by the mountains of Snowdonia. Llanberis sits at an elevation of 111 metres, near the foot of Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales. Llanberis is a popular base for outdoor activities, with nearby villages including Fachwen, Dinorwig, and Pen-gilfach. Llanberis has a mix of housing types, but terraced houses are predominant in the village.
AdBlue drains around Llanberis, and across Gwynedd too
Dinorwig and Pen-gilfach get the same vans as Llanberis, a village, along with other places over LL postcodes. Quickest of all: a LL55 4 postcode to show where you stand.
Whether your car is on a lay-by on the way to Coed Doctor or in a car park in the middle of Llanberis, it does not need to move. Our engineers drain it where it sits. If you're somewhere hard to describe, near Llafn y Cewri or close to a boundary, ring and ask instead of assuming.
Your scenario, summed up
Where it hasn't started, phone and leave it off. Whichever case fits, Petrol in Diesel handles from there on 0333 366 0103, across Gwynedd and in Llanberis — once you pull over, turn off and phone, if it's run.