Second Try

[coolbus]

I bought my bus ('95 International 3800 w/ T444 engine) a few years ago in high school when I lived in Florida, and have had a great time with it over the last few years. I did the conversion on an ultra-low budget (only a few thousand dollars including purchase), and designed it for 6 people to take on short trips. I left the original insulation installed, and really didn't touch the frame much, and also never installed any plumbing.

Now, I'm going to gut it and re-convert as more of a full time bus for one or two people. This time around I hope to be able to put a lot more resources into it, and make it look more like home. I should be starting in a month or so, and am starting a thread to document my progress.

Old pictures attached.

[yellowxj]

Sweet already. Love the deck up top.

Jeep, bus, repeat.

[cadillackid]

dang thats a great lookin bus!!! love the purple
- Christopher

[mdeese]

Awesome paint job! I was bouncing the idea of putting a deck on top of mine and this completely convinced me, what a cool bus.

[Wutm8]

i really wish i would have considered this when in high school/college... i was traveling on a small budget constantly and throwing away cash on rent. awesome bus man, cant wait to see what you do with it

[milkmania]

Originally Posted by Wutm8

i really wish i would have considered this when in high school/college... i was traveling on a small budget constantly and throwing away cash on rent. awesome bus man, cant wait to see what you do with it

My biggest regret!

[coolbus]

Thanks guys!

Today I went out to start it for the first time since October, as I've been busy all winter and with the snow haven't really had a desire to drive.

To my disappointment, I couldn't get it to start. Initially the batteries were low, but even while jumping it it wouldn't catch. I've had trouble starting in cold weather before (Today was 41 outside), and there was a lot of white smoke coming out the back while I was turning the key and lightly pumping the gas, which I believe means the fuel isn't combusting.

I'm wondering if my glow plugs may be bad, or some other problem causing my engine to stay to cool, its an FL bus thats now in a much colder climate so I'm guessing in its former life nobody paid much attention to the glow plugs.

Its also possible the fuel has gone bad, as I haven't had to refill the tank in over a year, though I put stabilizer in it a long time ago once I knew I wouldn't be driving as much.

It's got a T444e 7.3L, if anybody has any ideas I'd love to hear them!

[ol trunt]

Very hard to jump start a cold diesel. Charge up the batteries and do a load test on them to be sure they are still good then give it a try. Let the glow plugs do their thing before you crank the motor. BTW, "pumping" the gas pedal does nothing but give a lot of useless info to the computer. You have an electronically controlled system and unlike the bad old days these motors don't have an accelerator plunger pump--I doubt anything newer than 1990 does and they would be gas motors anyway if they had such a pedal activated device.

If after doing the above the motor still doesn't start it may have lost its prime--but that's a story for another time.

Jack

[cowlitzcoach]

Ol Trunt hit the nail on the head.

Do NOT try to start the bus if your batteries are not fully charged. This is especially important when the bus hasn't been started in a long while.

When you turn the key and the glow plugs start to heat, the glow plugs take a lot of juice out of the battery(s). They can take so much away that when they cycle off there won't be enough to start the engine.

Trying to get the starter to turn fast enough when the battery voltage is low is a sure fired way to toast a starter. The lower the voltage the more amperage the starter will need to take to get things started. The more amperage it trys to run through the windings the more apt something will melt down inside of the starter.

If you are not sure about your glow plugs working or not, try cycling the glow plugs twice or three times before you ever engage the starter. You want those combustion chambers as hot as you can get them. If they are not heating there is no way your engine will start.

The best way in which to help things get started besides a good hot battery is to plug it in and let the engine preheater warm things up. The 110-vac plug should be somewhere easy to find near the front bumper. Plug it in for a minimum of 5 hours if the ambient temp has not been going below 50*. If it struggles to get to 40* outside you will want to plug it in overnight at least.

Good luck and keep us posted to your progress.

[ol trunt]

One other thing------ It is very dangerous to use starting fluid in diesels that have glow plugs. If you should have the misfortune of having the glow plugs turn on while you are spraying starting fluid you can look forward to explosive results with engine parts flying around. There are several amusing videos of this on the net.
Jack

[coolbus]

Thank you both for your help!

My batteries are not the newest, and were on my list of parts to replace; they drop quite low when I tried to start it even with some jumping batteries. It sounds to me like I should put some new batteries in, and make sure they are fully charged. If that doesn't do the trick, then I'll pick up some new glow plugs and try it with those installed.


And I'll make sure to stay away from starting fluid!

-Robert

[cowlitzcoach]

Purchasing new batteries is a good idea.

Swapping out glow plugs without determining they are not working is not a good idea.

After you put the new batteries in determine that the glow plug controller is turning on the juice to the glow plugs. If the controller is non-op it won't matter if the glow plugs are working or not.

If you determine the controller is working and the glow plugs are not working then it would be a good time to swap out the glow plugs.

If you decide to swap out the glow plugs, replace all of them at the same time. Test each one to see if any still warm up and keep them as spares. I found that out of a set of 8 two will never quit working, two will stop working relatively soon, and four will last 50K-60K miles.

It should start with as few as five glow plugs working. Any fewer and it will be very difficult to start.

[cadillackid]

same on me if its been mentioned.. I didnt take the time to read the rest of the thread...

in a T-444E the glowplug relay is NOTORIOUS for going bad... its on the topside of things so its eas yto find.. when someone trips the key on and the wait-to-start light comes ion, test for power on the outpiut of the relay (if none then test for power ascross the coil)..if you have it then test for power to the input side of the relay.. if you have power to the coil and the inpiut of the relay but none on the output, your relay is bad..

if you have no inoput power check the wiring for the input to the relay... and with the coil power it is tied to an output on the ECM...

there is a thread here on this board you can search for, where the service manual and such is present in a zip file for the T-444E.

the T-444E requires oil-pressure to start as well.. it has 2 oil pumps so if the oil was changed and the high pressure oil reservcoire got drained it can take a LOT of cranking to get it to build level and make oil pressure..

-Christopher

[coolbus]

Just got it running and moved a few minutes ago, a fresh set of batteries definitely helped, and it turns out my glow plug relay is bad as well, so a big thanks to cadillackid for helping me find that one. I was able to jump the connection briefly to get the cylinders hot, and then had a smooth ride for just under an hour.

Thanks for the help guys!

[coolbus]

Yesterday I went out and scrapped the entire interior, except for the floor that needs a bit more persuading (picture posted). I'm trying to upgrade my electrical system such that the house batteries charge while the engine is running, and obviously don't have the ability to deplete my starting batteries when the engine isn't. My house batteries are 2 deep cycle optima yellowtops now because I found them at a 20% discount, and my old single battery wasn't very good. My plan right now is to connect the two sets of batteries with a relay activated by 12V from the ignition "On" position, with an inline manual switch so that I can keep it off when I need to for starting in cold weather. Are there any problems with a setup like this? I'm mainly concerned about overloading my alternator, I don't know of any component that rate limits amperage flow so that my house batteries don't suck too much power if they're low. It's the factory alternator which I believe has a max of around 150 Amps. Also if there are any critical fuses that I should install that would be helpful information as well.

Thanks!

[coolbus]

Here's a picture

[coolbus]

Spent a fair amount of time out at this bus this weekend, was able to tack up most of the 2X4 framing, run some electrical, and cut out some panelling.

[coolbus]

Put in walls, flooring, cabinet, etc. I'm going with a 3 room design, a living room in the front, conference room in the middle, and bedroom in the back, with a 2' trunk behind it. All of the electrical is done, with outlets in both walls and the stereo system, lots of interior painting left to do.

[coolbus]

For a while now I've been working on this project not only for myself, but also for a friend who is running for Massachusetts state senator. Today, I transferred the title over to him and his campaign, though I'll still be their "bus guy". The bus got a new paint job, and the interior is close to completion!

I don't want this to become a political thread, but some of the images from now on may have campaign stuff in them, as it's a part of my bus. Cheers!

[cadillackid]

cool stuff!!!.. do you still get to drive it?
-Christopher