What kind of mileage do you get?

[cowlitzcoach]

Originally Posted by Blueman

I recently purchased a 92 ford b600 bluebird 52 passenger bus. It also has the 6.6 inline diesel in it. I get from 10- 15 mpg with it. Its also a 10 speed manual transmission so maybe that has something to do with it.

A 10-speed or is it a 5-speed with a 2-speed rear end?

I can't say that I have ever seen a medium duty truck with a Road Ranger multi-range transmission. Which is not to say it doesn't have one.

When you say the 6.6L engine I assume you are talking about the Brazilian Ford diesel?

A short bus with the right engine and transmission getting more than 10 MPG is not surprising.

[fraser]

92 Thomas MPV saftey liner, 34', 202900 miles, 5.9 , 643 alison 12.1MPG

[toplessartist]

1991 chevy 350, gas, carburated … two trips from Salt Lake City to Boise and back wrung out at an average of 13mpg! That includes a few little in-town forays looking for other-than-McDonalds-food!

[PNW_Steve]

It would appear that the 5.9 folks are leading the pack as far as automatic equipped buses.

[jefferyofsky]

This is why I am trying to get into a build and a diesel. I now live in a home made tiny home, bolted to a Dodge Ram Gas V10, which I needed to handle the mountains, and I tow a small cargo trailer with me. I get around 8 miles per gallon, sure I got good speed, but just limited.

This is good mileage, from what I hear you can pretty well tow a car, large cargo trailer, etc., and it will not change, and in fact a lot of people fill their truck boxes up with weight and they get better mileage with a diesel than empty, so the more weight it seems the better.

Is anyone using alternative fuels or partial waste oil burning, to keep your costs down?

[cadillackid]

I havent done a measurement yet but im estimating im in a 12-13 MPG bow since the transmission update. definitely much higher than before from a look at the gas gauge for the number of miles ive driven.. ive got yet to measure.

-Christopher

[natedlee]

I just did the calculations while driving from Iowa to Ohio, so relatively flat run. I got just over 12mpg.

Here's my rig:
- 1998 Bluebird TC2000, 28', 18,500lb.
- Cummins 5.9 12v with Allison AT545
- I kept it around 60mph and the RPMs around 1200
- I wasn't running the stock A/C except briefly at a couple stops.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[chev49]

this post has gone on forever... think i got 8 mpg with flx when i answered it, n the thomas re is 10+ which is way bettter... not to mention the 318 detroit much more expensive than the 3208

not to mention i always drive 70+

[bman91]

So I haven't many trips in our rig under my belt but the trip home was a steady 65 mph for 5 hours, we got 12.4 mpg with it.. 8.3 with Allison.. I was pleased with it..

[fsrd]

I've got a 93 GMC 6.0L (366) gas 72 passenger bus I'm still in the process of converting into an rv. I'll be making a trip from Salt Lake City UT to Charleston SC in a week and will report back with what my average MPG ends up being.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by fsrd

I've got a 93 GMC 6.0L (366) gas 72 passenger bus I'm still in the process of converting into an rv. I'll be making a trip from Salt Lake City UT to Charleston SC in a week and will report back with what my average MPG ends up being.

My 85 Thomas had a gas engine. 3mpg in town, 4 on the highway.
YMMV!

[MengerMayhem]

Has anyone tried an HHO fuel generator? What about bio diesel cost vs MPG? also, does propane injection on your diesel improve MPG vs the cost of the system? What kind of alternative fuels are people messing around with?

[cowlitzcoach]

Originally Posted by MengerMayhem

Has anyone tried an HHO fuel generator? What about bio diesel cost vs MPG? also, does propane injection on your diesel improve MPG vs the cost of the system? What kind of alternative fuels are people messing around with?

Bio blends in excess of 10% can cause fuel system problems on electronic engines. With the extreme pressures and temperatures the bio gets compressed and baked onto the surfaces and can plug up the works. 2-cycle DD's aren't bothered too much with bio blends but Cat engines are particularly sensitive.

HHO generators in theory sounds great. I have yet to see any scientific studies to show it actually does what it is advertised to do.

Propane injection is to diesel engines what nitrous oxide injection is to gas engines. It is used to give extra boost over short periods of time. If you use propane injection make sure you keep an eagle eye on your exhaust temps. It wouldn't be hard to melt your pistons pulling a long grade while using the propane injection.

Some have tried waste vegetable oil. If you can find a ready source of your base stock at no cost it works fairly well. But cleaning the chunks of leftover fries and fish sticks out of the base stock, keeping it warm enough to flow through the system, and finding enough to make it worthwhile pretty much stops this option before you ever get started. Going by a KFC or Burger King with a 5-gallon bucket to fuel up your VW Rabbit is one thing. Showing up in your bus with several 55-gallon barrels is a whole different story. One thing to remember, many places that used to pay to get rid of their WVO now lease the vegetable oil. When it goes into the WVO tank it already belongs to someone else.

Probably you best bet to get better fuel economy is to make sure your tires are properly inflated and consider using a fuel conditioner.

This one has worked really well for me for a lot of years: https://www.texasrefinery.com/produc...technology.pdf

[ben2go]

Diesel engines are run on propane and natural gas only. However, those engines are specifically set up to run such fuels exclusively, not in tandem with diesel fuel. Some gas engines can run propane or natural gas as well as gasoline. These engines are designed to run as dual fuel or tri-fuel. I know a little bit about running propane in older carb engines, but I know very little about diesel engines running on propane or natural gas. My aircraft fuel trucks ran on natural gas. The reason I think this is done is to stop people from running the trucks with avgas or jet fuel. Back then, those fuels were way more expensive than regular gasoline or diesel by nearly $2 per gallon. Both of my fuel trucks were turbo diesels but the fuel system was set up to deal with natural gas. They never left the airport so I don't know what the effiecency was like over the road. They weren't fueled up in a convention manner. I had a service truck top off our tanks once or twice a week. I changed the oil after so many hours of operation. The oil looked new at every change. No hydrocarbons, or very few, to contaminate the oil and turn it black.

[2002Amtranvacationer]

hi all just got my bus 2002 amtran 37.5 ft with t444e and i got 11+ mpg pulling a 2003 grand caravan from VA to TX 1000 miles at 60
so im happy with that I think when i done without the van i should get the same

[Robbie in Maine]

My bus is pretty much empty right now and has averaged 12 mpg over the last year. Hope it won't be much lower with 4 Harleys and 6 Humans on the way to Sturgis. After that, the conversion begins.

1998 Thomas on Freightliner chassis, 5.9 Cummins, 6-speed manual

[Blueman]

I have a 1992 b600 bluebird 53 passenger. Its a 2 speed rear end so i have 5 high or 5 low gears. It has a 6.6 ltr desiel engine. I get between 9-15 mpg. Depends on what i am towing, if anything.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by Blueman

I have a 1992 b600 bluebird 53 passenger. Its a 2 speed rear end so i have 5 high or 5 low gears. It has a 6.6 ltr desiel engine. I get between 9-15 mpg. Depends on what i am towing, if anything.

What ratios are in the rear?
I've only ever seen them with low or REALLY LOW.

[Blueman]

I honestly dont know the gear ratio. I never use the low gears and it will do 70 down the highway and at that speed my rpm's are at 2700. Low gears seem way to low unless im pulling something heavy at lower speeds

[Johnny Mullet]

My 7 window Thomas built bus with the International chassis and T444E 7.3L diesel gets 10 MPG no matter what. I got 10 MPG when I drove it home and still get 10 MPG after the build. Don't matter if I am running 65 MPH or 55 MPH, the MPG remains consistent.