--- title: Explained: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank Bowd canonical: https://www.petrolinadieselcar.co.uk/adblue-in-diesel/bowd-devon/ location: Bowd county: Devon latitude: 50.702380 longitude: -3.263940 service: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank updated: 2026-10-17 --- # Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Bowd: Why It Occurs Pause reading a minute if your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Around Bowd, finding it before your motor runs normally means draining and a full flush on the spot. The remainder of this page explains why it occurs and how to ensure it doesn't — handy if you're reading ahead of time. ## Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor Not one fluid but two: that's how many newer diesels around Bowd and Middle Woolbrook carry, with diesel feeding the engine. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust gas to clean it. There's a filler on each tank. Some cars keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others have the two side by side behind one flap. Topping up the diesel side at the pump goes on all the time. Much less commonly, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. It is in the gap that the mistake lives. ## How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place in Bowd? Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things line up. The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out altogether, your vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off A3052 before work, or in the car park at Bowd Inn on the way home. Then the car is new. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one. A spouted bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, once started, carries on. It takes seconds, be it out in Stowford or bang in the centre of Bowd. ## Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler Check these first, at a forecourt in Bowd or a drive over in Bulverton. Seconds, that's all. - Where it sits can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally do not. - The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two. - Lift the flap and look for a label — plenty of vehicles show which goes in each filler right there. - In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler is if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which. - The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Feniton, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on. ## How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Devon that is. - Not in a rush on the side of Fire Beacon Lane, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off first. - Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you have found your filler and read the cap. - Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle. - Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty. - Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check again, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Find during the second or third stage that the bottle went into the diesel filler? That's where you stop. Don't go on to stage five. ## AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Bowd? Then the order of things is short. Do not start your motor. The fuel pump starts on many diesels as soon as the ignition goes on — and so leave it off. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is drawn from. The staff at the nearest petrol station, Esso or any forecourt will usually help to push your car away when asked. Your own driveway around Bowd is the place it should stay. Already run? Pull over once it is safe, then turn off. Leave the M5 — under 10 miles out of Bowd — at the next junction. Distance counts — a short hop across Bowd is a smaller job than driving under 15 miles towards Exeter — so tell us about how far it went. ## When our engineers turn up in Bowd, what happens? By Sidmouth Church of England (VA) Primary School, near St Francis of Assisi or on your own driveway: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our technicians come to it. Those replies decide the work and the price, so our engineers ask what went in, roughly how much, and if it has run. You get that price on the phone, before anybody heads out. Your system is then flushed thoroughly, after the tank is drained. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. Once the filter is flushed — or renewed, if required — clean diesel is added, and finally the vehicle is tested. We do not leave until it has been started and is running correctly. Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour after we arrive, provided the engine hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet after dark beside a house. 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 money upfront. It's worth looking at your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies. ## About Bowd and where it is Bowd is a small village in Devon, situated near the coast and approximately 11.8 miles from Exeter. Bowd sits at an elevation of around 101 metres, overlooking the surrounding countryside. Bowd is characterised by its semi-detached housing and is located near other small settlements such as Stowford and Higher Woolbrook. Bowd remains a quiet residential community with a population of around 551 people. ## AdBlue drains across Devon, Bowd included Higher Woolbrook and Northmostown are among the places around Bowd, a coastal village, that the same teams cover, throughout EX postcodes. Fastest of all: quote a EX10 0 postcode to our van. No need to move the car. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near St Gregory's, a lay-by on the way to Harpford Wood, a driveway. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Harpford Village Hall. ## For Bowd drivers, the short version Always, the cap; then, the pour. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, throughout Devon.