Doubling-Down With Bus #2

[EastCoastCB]

Yeah once i peeled one off I felt pretty dumb. But I'd rather err on the side of caution when disabling the safety/kid stuff.
My 92 is simple. This 98 is a little more tricky, to me at least.
I'm liking the bus a LOT though. Its got deceptive speed, got up to 65 today like it was nothing! The cruise works at 35, haven't tried it any lower.
Having a bus IN my driveway makes my day, every day.

Still want one a row shorter with all the same stuff but a DT466, though. Heck, I guess any 5-7 window would be fine.
It will have to wait till I either sell something, or after this summer when I make double what I make in the "winter".

[cadillackid]

Yeah you can ditch the sonar, it came about after schools had kids left on busses over night.. so it was a system to track that , some schools had it such where the driver had to show the sonar report to the guard shack on the way out of the bus barn..

My roof hatch on redbyrd leaks less than it did before but I'm gonna replace it with a new one. Jusxbecauae i do carry people in the bus and don't like ditching means of escape..

I need to get my windshield sealed bad!

When you spray it next time be sure to spray out the radiator .. I don't wash the engine in these electronic busses though.. too scary to think of ruining an ECM
Christopher

[cadillackid]

5 Window full chassis are really tough to find, I've seen them rarely. 6 is real common.

IC BE I believe came in a 5 window but it's not the heavy duty your bus is. I don't know if a BE ever had a 466 or not , I always see them with vt-365s

My carpenter 7 row is the heaviest short bus I've ever seen at 27500 gvwr. They did make those in DT466s I think most had 643s also..

Christopher

Your cruise is minimum 35 but I think I can set it lower if you want . 35 is Factory and I didn't change it, I remember it saying 35 in yours.

[EastCoastCB]

I hosed out the rad, looked REAL clean.
I never really WASH an engine. At least one with wires and stuff. I usually just wipe down a different part every time I'm in there.
The engine access is nice. I was looking at the water pump, etc thinking how its just like a big pickup truck with better engine access. I love it!

[EastCoastCB]

Took the shorty out for a REAL trip for its first time since I've owned it. Went from Eustis to Apopka, picked up 8 friends, then drove it out to a blues show in New Smyrna Beach.
The bus did GREAT. Did well on fuel, and only went up over 180 when I was testing it for top speed. Sucker does nearly 75.
I do think I have some sort of electrical gremlin, though. The cruise and radio worked fine on the way, but when we were almost there the CC quit working.
After the show the CC didn't work any more and the radio wouldn't make any sound. It powered on just like normal. But no sound, no CC. The heaters also wouldn't blow for more than 15-30 secs and would just quit.
Any ideas? Thanks

[cowlitzcoach]

I have lost track as to which body your shorty has.

Regardless, I would say your relay that supplies power to your panel is probably not powering things up properly. If it is getting old it may power up until it gets warm and then an automatic breaker trips and turns it off. Once it cools off it will try to power back up again.

The CC might be related but since you are having body and chassis problems it doesn't mean they actually are related. In fact, it is more probable they are not related but just happen to be happening at the same time.

[EastCoastCB]

Its a 98 Amtran. Thanks CC.

The cruise/high idle work till I hit the brakes, then they don't.

[2kool4skool]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Its a 98 Amtran. Thanks CC.

The cruise/high idle work till I hit the brakes, then they don't.

Had a CL A like that, it was the brake pedal failing to return every time.

[EastCoastCB]

I thought about the brake pedal. But its fully returning I've even reached down to make sure, even pulled back on it . Maybe the switch is bad?

[cadillackid]

theres an inout that goes into the ECM, I believeits a ground sense circuit.. I will have to see if I can find a diagram of the wire and where it comes from..

it acts like you have a bad ground somewhere...

there is a bulkhead connector between the chassis and the body, on my carpenter it is in the kick panel in front of the heater.. I had to take the kick panel cover off.. those connectors are notorious for getting flaky.. I unplugged mine, cleaned the contacts and put it back together.. it fixed a wierdness with my brake lights..

that connector would have the power feed for your main solenoid which controls the heaters.. each heater is likely connected through a circuit breaker (not fuse).. if the motor over-currents ( due to bad motor or possible bad ground / low voltage)..

everything you describe sounds like a flaky ground..
-Christopher

[EastCoastCB]

That sounds pretty logical, and honestly I sorta suspected something like that.
Crucial bit of info I totally forgot to include- As the show was ending and I went out to start up the bus and let it warm up a bit, I went to start it and when I turned the key, the lights came on as usual and the gauges swept. Everything is normal, I turn the key and nothing happens. I take the key out and try it again and she started right up.
My first thought was I better check and clean the battery terminals and check any grounds I can find.
It does have some rust in a few areas and there's a couple leaks when it rains or gets washed. A few of the school bus items were removed and there are wires here and there that are leftover, cut, hanging... I need to address all this stuff, I reckon.
All in all, a good lil shakedown run. Everyone enjoyed the ride, and I stayed comfy and relaxed in my air ride seat. I could drive this thing for hours.

[EastCoastCB]

Nothing looks out of place or corroded in the battery compartment.
Gona look around some more.

[Njsurf73]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Nothing looks out of place or corroded in the battery compartment.
Gona look around some more.

The radio powers up, but no sound. The CC doesn't enable but fast idle works.
Are there any light issues?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[Njsurf73]

Originally Posted by Njsurf73

The radio powers up, but no sound. The CC doesn't enable but fast idle works.
Are there any light issues?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Oh and the heaters... Look for a common ground maybe. Somewhere where all those components come together? My old truck had body grounds to the chassis and the battery went to the chassis. Maybe a common ground wire? Or as wierd as it sounds maybe it's actually 3 unrelated issues. The radio I think may be unrelated at least. Sounds like an internal amp issue.
If it is just lighting up with the dash lights it could be a seperate circuit for the radio power (think old GM products that had every dash light integrated)


Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by Njsurf73

The radio powers up, but no sound. The CC doesn't enable but fast idle works.
Are there any light issues?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Nope no issues with lights, with running, the wipers, the door, everything seems to work as it should except the heaters, CC, and speakers. The radio itself is on, just no sound out the speakers.

[Njsurf73]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Nope no issues with lights, with running, the wipers, the door, everything seems to work as it should except the heaters, CC, and speakers. The radio itself is on, just no sound out the speakers.

Hope it's something simple. Good luck

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[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by Njsurf73

Oh and the heaters... Look for a common ground maybe. Somewhere where all those components come together? My old truck had body grounds to the chassis and the battery went to the chassis. Maybe a common ground wire? Or as wierd as it sounds maybe it's actually 3 unrelated issues. The radio I think may be unrelated at least. Sounds like an internal amp issue.
If it is just lighting up with the dash lights it could be a seperate circuit for the radio power (think old GM products that had every dash light integrated)


Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

The radio is hard wired to the battery I think. It comes on any time I turn the key, and nothing I have tried will turn it off.
I'm gonna look for grounds and stuff. This is why I like my 92 so much- there isn't really too much stuff electical to break or worry about.

[WIbluebird]

On our buses there's a switch to change the speaker input from the radio to a voice intercom. Sometimes the switch is in a weird place. I'd check that part if your bus has it.

As for Zonar, we have those systems on our buses. Those chips are read with a scanner when drivers do pretrips. They're not hooked up to anything so you can just peel the things off the bus with no problems whatsoever.

Zonar actually offers a variety of services beyond the pretrip scanner. We have GPS trackers on all our buses so you can access a webpage and see the location of every bus in the fleet on a big map. They also manufacture bus cameras but we use REI for that.

[EastCoastCB]

Yeah checked that as soon as I had no sound, the speakers don't work on INT/EXT- either side of switch.

[cadillackid]

sure sounds like a ground issue... I have a buddy visiting me here this weekend so I cant come up to give it a look ..

im not sure i have my meter down here.. i might have one.
-Christopher