President Obama's Limo Breaks Down In Israel After Being Filled With Diesel By Mistake

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Jalopnik

President Obama is on his way to Israel for a state visit. His limo, the Beast, made the trip with him. Apparently it just broke down because it was filled with diesel instead of gas. Whoops.

The President was not in the limo when it broke down and a new one is now being brought in from Jordan.

Here's what the Times of Israel had to say about the breakdown:

“The Americans filled it up with diesel, rather than petrol,” reports Channel 2 — stressing that it was the Americans, not the Israelis.

Unsurprisingly, the car wouldn’t start.

Still, kinda funny to see the Beast broken down on a flatbed.


Read more: http://jalopnik.com/president-obamas-limo-breaks-down-in-israel-after-bein-456773406

---

Is this Israel's version of the Onion, or is this for real? If this is Photoshopped, it's a great way to start the day.

[dipsydoodle]

1. lol

That's classic. I do sympathise having managed in the past to fill my diesel up with petrol twice in the past.

[OKNancy]

2. CNN link

Presidential limo breaks down ahead of Obama's arrival

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/03/20/presidential-limo-breaks-down-ahead-of-obamas-arrival/

[Poll_Blind]

3. I'm sure the Israelis will do an EXCELLENT job repairing it!

PB

[dipsydoodle]

4. Its worse the other way around

If you fill a diesel model up with petrol you need to remove the tank to get it all out and then add an additive - you can't just syphon it as that don't remove enough of the petrol.

[mwrguy]

51. An excellent job planting bugs and analyzing its defenses

is more like it.

[sabbat hunter]

5. I don't know about in israel

but here in the US, the nozzles are different sizes, so a diesel hose won't fit in a gas tank

[Blandocyte]

6. Scary. That vehicle is meant to withstand almost anything

and it's stopped dead by a dumbass? Better to find out this way than while in danger.

[snooper2]

44. I'm pretty sure the President doesn't hang around in the car

While they stop at Quick Trip

[Arkana]

48. "Hey, get me a pack of smokes and some Slim Jims, wouldja?"

[Scootaloo]

52. If it were stopped dead by dumbass, it woulda been on cinder blocks from '01 to '09

[awoke_in_2003]

62. DUzy. nt

[stuuuuuuuu]

7. obvious sabotage

either someone took the car for a little joyride and didnt know what to fill it up with afterwards since the secret service NEVER releases important details about pres security or.....
it was tampered with another way and this is the excuse to not put potus in in it.

either way, make no mistake, some shit went down with that car.

[northoftheborder]

8. plausible

[HappyMe]

11. Woooo!

Really?

[Bosonic]

12. Why not go full tinfoil?

The car in Jordan is the one that has been structurally tampered with/weakened and the diesel stunt is just to ensure that the original limo is swapped out with it.

[stuuuuuuuu]

16. meh

thanks for setting me straight.

i guess someone at the secret service, the only people allowed to touch the car, just forgot the undisclosed detail that it runs on gasoline. maybe they forgot what it ran on, decided to check online, and believed the dozens of articles speculating that it runs on diesel.

plus why the hell would israel want to bug the president's car?
our allies would never do anything like that.

[JDPriestly]

22. Correct. This makes me feel very, very uneasy.

Somebody is up to no good is my sense of this.

It may have just been an innocent mistake -- but -- they are bringing in a car from Jordan?

[graham4anything]

29. Reminds me how ambulences in Israel took the shortcut getting Ariel Sharon to a hospital

[gateley]

37. His next stop is in Jordan, so there was already another Beast waiting for

him there. I'm sure the SS has been with it every step of the way.

[Purveyor]

38. The same SS that pump this one full of the wrong fuel? Yeah, I feel better now. /sarcasm eom

[winter is coming]

41. And they'll be triple-checking it now, just in case this "mistake" was arranged somehow. n/t

[mahatmakanejeeves]

27. Welcome to DU.

I want to be the first to say it.

[GoneFishin]

43. No frickin' way would secret service let Gomer Pyle gas up the limo.

I don't know what really happened, but no way this was just an oversight.

[Trajan]

13. I remember stopping in Arizona to fill up

... where a young man came out of the gas station store to where his friend was filling his Diually pickup truck with fuel.

As he pulled the nozzle out when he finished, the young man started screaming " YOU PUT GASOLINE IN THE TANK????"

My family got in the car and we drove off wondering if the friend survived ....

[Blue_Tires]

23. One time at the racetrack

I put in a few gallons of Sunoco 118 octane (leaded) since the pump was right next to the 93...The only reason I noticed was because I saw how fast the dollar amount was rising (It was like $8.19/gal)

[Purveyor]

14. I hope our Secret Service trusts the Netanyahu gov't even less than I and that is damned little.eom

[former9thward]

40. The Israelis were not responsible.

It was incompetence on the part of the Secret Service.

[AndyA]

15. So someone unfamiliar with the car filled it up?

As mentioned earlier in another post in this thread, gas pump nozzles are normally different for diesel gas, and won't fit in the filler of a non-diesel car. Perhaps that's only here in the United States? Seems it wouldn't be, as this could happen frequently if a person unfamiliar with the car filled it up. Something doesn't seem right about this story.

[SCVDem]

18. More damn regulations!

Americans should have the right to put diesel in the gas tank if they want to!

We have the absolute right to be stupid without a nanny state stopping us!

[mainer]

20. Gas and diesel nozzles are the same in France, anyway

maybe it's also true in Israel?

[Poll_Blind]

21. "Something doesn't seem right about this story." I agree. nt

PB

[desertdevil]

17. Was attendant watching Faux News Israel?

Maybe the attendant was watching the monitor on top of gas pump and it was tuned to Faux News Israel. On a more serious note, I'm surprised that the limo doesn't run on diesel, It has a higher ignition point, therefore, one would tend to think it would be safer. Perhaps it is in the difference in acceleration between a gas and diesel engine.

[mainer]

19. Friend of mine did that in France

The nozzles are the same size, and I think they label the petrol nozzles green over there -- which is the opposite from the US.

[Renew Deal]

24. Is that repairable?

[madokie]

30. Sure it is

drain the tank and bleed the lines and presto you're as good as new.

I doubt seriously if this story is true. My suspicion is that car has a full tank of fuel before it leaves the usa.

One of my girl friends put diesel in her car years ago out of her dads fuel tank on his farm, she being young didn't know the differene between gas and diesel so it was an honest mistake, old ford, and she only noticed it after it started smoking like crazy as she traveled down the road. We towed it back home for her and her dad drained the tank, bled the fuel lines and carburetor and no harm done. Except us poking fun at her.

Years ago people who drove the early VW bugs were encouraged by some dealers to put a quart of diesel in with their gas for upper cylinder/valve lube.

[yellowcanine]

45. Diesel into gas is not that serious. Gas into diesel can be more of a problem.

Draining the tank and refilling with gasoline should fix it right up. Might get a little black smoke from residual diesel in the tank or lines, that should be about it.

[MindPilot]

46. yep, desel in a gas car, it just won't start.

Gas in a diesel--that is probably going to break something.

[bluedigger]

25. I hope his AAA membership was up to date.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

28. That's a long tow back to the White House.

Watch out for the water hazard.

[darkangel218]

26. Ahahahahahahahha!

Thats cuz most vehicles there run on diesel they assumed his limo.does too Lmao!!!

[DeSwiss]

31. It's a throw-away now.

Nice try tho.

K&R

[PatrynXX]

32. oh well not like it'll be a huge ouch

We ran our riding lawnmower on red gas before figuring out uh red gas? thats not Unleaded. I brought that one up. Oh thats why it was smoking. never had it fixed. just changed the gas ie it's just a riding mower. tipped it over and drained it out. Now a car... got a cheep syphon?? (ahem note to sell thats dads fault)

[donco]

33. Repoed because of sequestering. nt

[SeattleVet]

34. 'The Beast' *is* a diesel-powered vehicle...

perhaps they put in gasoline instead?

From 2011:

http://www.dieselpowermag.com/features/1104dp_the_commander_in_chiefs_diesel_powererd_limousine/

[onehandle]

35. Weird. I've had a bad feeling about this trip. nt

[TwilightGardener]

36. This is kind of unbelievable. Having a hard time buying this story.

Does SS really run down to the Loaf-N-Jug station on the corner to fill up the President's fuel tank? Why wouldn't they just bring--and control--the fuel?

[AAO]

39. If anything they put gasoline in when it should have been diesel - It's a diesel car.

Most likely broke down for some other reason.

From the CNN article:

The limo failed to start, and required towing in Jerusalem at 10 a.m. local time. Obama, who landed in Tel Aviv around noon, was not in the country at the time the limo was towed. A second presidential limo was brought to transport Obama.

"We experienced mechanical trouble with one of the cars," Edwin Donovan, a spokesman for the Secret Service, told a pool reporter traveling with Obama. "We don't know the cause."

Donovan couldn't confirm reports the limo was refueled using gasoline rather than diesel.

"That's why we bring different multiple vehicles," Donovan said.

[dipsydoodle]

54. That being case

and assuming a full tank full they'd have been daft to run it - screws the fuel pump quite quickly.

[AAO]

56. There must be a critical piece missing from this story.

[dipsydoodle]

57. It might be terminology

what you call gas we call petrol.

[AAO]

59. I know that - it's something else - we just don't know the real truth - and it probably doesn't matt

er.

[JaneyVee]

42. That car probably weighs more than that flatbed.

[MindPilot]

47. So how many presidential limos are deployed around the world?

Or do they just send some spares out ahead of time?

[Ian David]

49. You know, I THOUGHT there was something suspicious. Check the security tape...

http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/1V07qmtTU_Uh8d5N0GG1dA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTMxMA--/

[Scootaloo]

53. Cracks me up that he went from Herman Munster to Grandpa in under a week.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

63. LOL

[mahatmakanejeeves]

65. Hey, it's Bryan Ferry!

Last edited Thu Mar 21, 2013, 12:33 PM - Edit history (2)

[img][/img]

This is lip-synched. The audio is from the album.

[mwooldri]

50. Not first time fuel got mixed up...

Back a few years, we raised a fair bit of money for a new volunteer rescue ambulance. Unlike the other vehicles, it was diesel powered. So on its first fill-up, the person tasked with putting fuel in the tank put petrol (gasoline) into the brand new rescue ambulance... got not very far down the road... oops. The pump hoses were put in such a way that you couldn't put in diesel into an unleaded petrol vehicle (or put leaded petrol into an unleaded fuel vehicle) but it didnt work the other way around.

[madokie]

55. I seriously doubt that the car is powered by gasoline

It has 8 inch thick, wiki, steel doors, glass they won't exactly disclose, heavily armored to the point that it will weigh as much or more than a ten wheel semi truck. There is no gasoline engine that will propel it to the speeds it is said to be capable of day in and day out. I followed links and can't find much on the car but there is a lot on the author of the story that makes me believe this whole story is totally bullshit.
flame away
More than likely this car is powered by a diesel engine as there is no other engine that is capable of the performance that the car is supposed capable of except a turbo or supercharged diesel.

I call bullshit on this article you all are referencing

[happyslug]

60. They were and are Gasoline engines capable of doing the work

Last edited Thu Mar 21, 2013, 02:12 AM - Edit history (1)

Yes, today it is more common to have Diesels as large engines then gasoline, but that has NOT always been the case AND large Gasoline engines are still in use today.

For example you can still get a 7.4 liter/454 CI (Now call a 8100 Vortec) engine for a Chevrolet Pickup or Suburban:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_Vortec_engine#8100

Power output ranges from 325 hp (242 kW) to 550 hp (410 kW) and torque from 455 lb·ft (617 N·m) to 690 lb·ft (936 N·m)

Compare that to the following Diesel a Cummins, ISX15 (Which is built for LARGE Tractors that pull up to 80,000 pound trailers):

Ratings range from 400-600 hp (298-447 kW) with up to 2050 lb-ft (2779 n•M) of peak torque.

http://cumminsengines.com/isx15-heavy-duty-truck-2013?#overview

Notice the Cummins had roughly the same horsepower, but is a much larger enigne. The Gasoline engine has lower torque, but Gasoline engines reach their RPM maximum faster then Diesel (Thus are perferred when acceleration is desire more then towing capacity). Thus if you want acceleration (and I suspect the Secret Service wants that in the President's car) you opt for Gasoline and for this reason large gasoline engines are still being produced for trucks and large cars.

The US Army ran across this problem in the 1960s, the Army had used Gasoline engines in their ALL of their vehicles (including TANKS) till 1959. In 1959 the Army switched to Diesels with the adoption of the M60 Tank. The Army slowly converted their old M48 tanks to Diesels and converted the M113 Armored Personal Carriers to Diesel (Both had been orginally designed with Gasoline Engines). The Army could NOT convert its "Reconnaissance/Scout" armored Vehicles (the M114) for the engine space was to small (The M48 and M113 had the extra space to install a larger Diesel Engine, Diesel Engines small enough to fit into a M114 was found to NOT have the required Acceleration). Thus the M114 stayed Gasoline till pulled from service in the early 1970s (And replaced by M151 Jeeps, yes unarmored Jeeps OR M113s, which lasted till the 1980s when the M3 Bradley Cavalry Fighting Vehicle (CFV) filled the role).

Thus there have ALWAYS been Gasoline Engines that can move the President's car. If Acceleration is a preferred aspect of the vehicle, a gasoline engine would be preferred. Given such engines EXIST and are MADE today, I see no reason why the President's Limo is NOT gasoline powered.

[Tx4obama]

58. UPDATE: The break down had NOTHING to do with gas/diesel fuel

Presidential limo breaks down ahead of Obama's arrival

Jerusalem (CNN) - An official limousine awaiting President Barack Obama's arrival in Israel malfunctioned Wednesday but the Secret Service now says the reason for the mechanical problem had nothing to do with the type of fuel used, as first reported.

"The appropriate gas was put in the car," Ed Donovan, spokesman for the Secret Service, told CNN.

-snip-

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/03/20/presidential-limo-breaks-down-ahead-of-obamas-arrival/

[MisterP]

61. life imitates "Father Ted"?

[jmowreader]

64. Turns out the reporting was backward

The Beast is a diesel. They put gasoline in it.

I can see how they did it, too: in the US, diesel pump nozzles have green slipcovers and the pump is labeled, in Roman letters, "DIESEL." In Israel, all the words on the pump are in Hebrew, which uses a totally different alphabet, and the slipcovers on the gasoline nozzles are green.

[dipsydoodle]

66. If they're the same as Europe

then diesel nozzles are black over here and yes - petrol ones are green. Diesel nozzles are also narrower than petrol nozzles.

I read last night that the replacement car is being shipped over there from Japan !

[jmowreader]

67. Diesel nozzles are smaller than gasoline nozzles there?

Most places they're a lot bigger...big enough they won't fit in a gasoline powered vehicle (when unleaded gas came out here in the States the evil government made them make unleaded nozzles and unleaded filler holes smaller so you couldn't put leaded gas in and destroy the catalytic converter), and most diesel rigs have huge fuel tanks so a bigger nozzle lets you fuel faster.