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Wrong Fuel Chokes Presidential Limo
An anonymous reader writes "Fueling your car with the wrong type of fuel happens even to POTUS. This happens when you put gasoline instead of diesel in the tank. ...." And Yes, the presidential limo really is a diesel. What about clean, renewable solar?
The link is to a story which says the correct fuel was used.
Ran into this a couple of times in the Army before we eliminated all gasoline vehicles. Not fun.
They're bigger than gasoline spouts. So you can't put diesel in your gasser, but you can put gas in your diesel.
I know I'm breaking the convention of reading before posting, however to quote TFA "the mechanical problem had nothing to do with the type of fuel used, as first reported."
That group of bovine standing over there appears quite portentous. That's right it's an ominous cow herd.
Actually it's the reverse.
Diesel engines actually have the broader range of fuels that can be used. Generally, as long as the engine can generate enough pressure to achieve ignition via compression heating, the fuel can be used. Putting gas in isnt actually bad for the engine; it simply lacks the ability to achieve combustion via compression pressures usually found in automotive diesel motors. Gasoline is actually "designed", so to speak, to not combust due to compression, for reasons stated below. so its not harmful, it just simply doesnt run with much power, if at all.
Technically gasoline engines can theoretically use diesel or other fuels if its volatile enough, and the proper air/fuel mixture can be achieved, but the risk is that the fuel is combusted early. ie, not by the spark plug, but the compression cycle itself before the timing cycle can light the sparkplug, which causes engine knock, power loss, and can destroy the engine cylinder eventually. So while the fuel achieves ignition, its not desireable ignition. which is why refined gasoline was developed to have a really really high heat of compression so that it wouldnt combust intil its supposed to.
"Diesel fuel" is actually simpler to produce than gasoline as well, requiring less refinement. Big marine diesels use fuel that is essentially almost basic crude. the major disadvantage is that being less refined the fuel is more prone to gelling in cold temperatures (more viscous components in the molecules).
The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
Here's sort of an abstract that points to another report.
http://www.survivalblog.com/2010/08/real_world_emp_effects_on_moto.html
It is not true that cars are completely immune, but most vehicles (90%) only show minor anomalous behavior like blinking indicators, and when the cars do stall, they can be restarted immediately.
This could cause accidents, of course, but won't paralyze land transport.
WHOA! Gasoline will ignite due to compression at far LOWER ratios than what is produced in an automotive diesel engine! What do you think knock is?! It's autoignition occurring too soon. This is what occurs when the octane rating is too low - high octane gas is for higher cylinder pressure engines and actually is HARDER to ignite. Pump grade gas ignites fairly easily.
A diesel engine may have a 15:1 or higher compression ratio, gasoline auto engines seldom go above 12:1 unless they're running Nitro or pure Meth alcohol. Passenger gasoline engines run 11:1 or so tops.
Gasoline in a diesel engine is BAD news. It will ignite from the compression very early in the compression cycle while the piston is still rising and beat the crap out of the ring lands and bearings. I disagree that gasoline isn't volatile enough to ignite, it's TOO volatile! Your first paragraph gets it wrong, the rest I agree with - you appear to contradict yourself.
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