deciding between 2005 Thomas and 2006 Collins

[CHEESE_WAGON]

Originally Posted by Jocelyn

It's just a challenge! At this point I am emotionally attached to the bus. I've named it. They're looking for the title and will be signing it over to me this week or weekend. Once everything is totally official I'll start a thread for it.

I don't want to rain on your parade, but getting emotionally attached to a bus you haven't even purchased yet could be a mistake. And I certainly wouldn't spend my own money on batteries for bus I had not yet purchased. Unfortunately, in this day and age, you can't always count on people being honest with you about things, even with a church.

[Jocelyn]

Originally Posted by Maligator.

As someone who has looked at many "Alaska buses", I have a few points of advice.
1. Get a pre-emissions bus. (pre-2004), the repair bill in alaska for EGR or other components can run 12 to 15 grand.
2. Don't buy in Alaska, a 2005 bus has been driven as many as 15 years on Salty, wet roads. That rust you found is just the tip of the iceberg and you'll spend alot of valuable time and money remediating the rust.
3. Don't get "emotionally" invested before you even buy a bus, you'll make a poor decision and regret it.
4. If you buy an "Alaska" bus that will cost you thousands to get into the shape you want, consider spending a few thousand getting a "perfect" bus for you in Oregon, Cali or AZ. It'll be less hard work, you'll be happier in the long run and probably save more money than if you try to make an AK bus into something that a OR, CA, AZ bus already is by virtue of where it was operated.
Anyhow, good luck oh and what coastal town? Do you have a road into town or are you isolated? If so, your costs just went up 25% also!

I'm on the ferry system, which as you know is all jacked up this summer =/
It's a 2003 so it has the 7.3, no DEF or emissions complications. It's got under 81k miles, was retired in 2017. Unfortunately I think that's when the last servicing of any kind was. Part of what I'm looking forward to is having to do a lot of maintenance for the learning it will provide, with some limits of course.

Originally Posted by CHEESE_WAGON

I don't want to rain on your parade, but getting emotionally attached to a bus you haven't even purchased yet could be a mistake. And I certainly wouldn't spend my own money on batteries for bus I had not yet purchased. Unfortunately, in this day and age, you can't always count on people being honest with you about things, even with a church.

Unfortunately I know this to be true! I do believe that they are just looking to get rid of it but you never know what can happen. We do have an agreement and one good thing about communicating via text is that everything is recorded. Hoping to get the title in my hands this weekend so it's official.

edited to add: the batteries were on sale at Napa for 20% off which is part of the reason I wanted to buy them now. Only 1 is in the bus, the other is sitting in a marine box in the back of my car. Worst case scenario is I'd be out $150 if they backed out and made a fuss about me taking out the other one I bought.

[cowlitzcoach]

You didn't post other photos of the bottom side of the bus so it is hard to tell how bad the salt/rust damage is. Usually if the battery box is destroyed it is more because the battery acid has corroded everything than outside forces attacking the battery box.


Unless you can get the bus for virtually nothing it isn't going to be a good deal for you. Sometimes free is a very good price. Other times free can be extremely expensive.


I am a bit concerned about the running and then stopping issues. You need to get a code reader and read what codes the electronics are throwing out. Diagnosing issues with an electronically controlled engine without checking the codes is just guessing and throwing parts at a problem. We can make guesses as to probably causes but the codes will tell you for sure.


So here goes a guess for you: Since it starts and runs the hard parts are probably in okay condition. The fact it will run, shut itself down, but will restart could be an electrical, fuel, or hardware issue.



If it will start with one battery it shouldn't be an electrical problem. The only reason why a bus with a diesel has two batteries is you need the extra cold cranking amps to get things started, especially when it gets cold outside. The bus also needs an extra battery for total battery capacity. When it is dark and cold outside the hotel load to run all of the lights and heaters is HUGE. Even with a large alternator it could be sucking more juice out of the batteries than the alternator can put out at idle.



Changing out the old lube oil, adding fresh fuel with a fuel conditioner, and new fuel filters will eliminate a lot of possible fuel problems.



Hardware issues could be injectors that are sticking, low pressure in the High Pressure Fuel Pump, or a lift pump that isn't lifting a great enough volume. All of which can be improved with changing out the old lube oil, adding fresh fuel with a fuel conditioner, and new fuel.


More photos would be helpful.


Good luck and keep us posted as to your progress.

[Jocelyn]

It's pretty amazing what a difference getting rid of that disgusting old oil and filter made!

I was able to drive it home without any problems after changing the oil and filter and adding antifreeze. I also put some diesel kleen in the tank. One of the guys from the church gave me a hand getting the old oil filter off and reinflating one of the tires, and a ride back to pick up my car.
The pastor is looking for the title and I'm going to give them some cash but mostly my payment is the money I spent on supplies to get it out of their parking lot. It sounded good after the change but I think I'm still going to change out the injector o-rings. I bought a replacement fuel filter too but I need to find a tutorial with the setup of this van front to feel comfortable changing that out.

I'm pretty beat, will start a new thread with plenty of pics tomorrow to kick off the project. Thank you all for the advice so far!

[Native]

Please post a link to your new thread here.

[Jocelyn]

New thread!
https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f27/a...450-31515.html

[Native]

Thank you for the link ... I just posted a reply there.