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Old 04-09-2020, 01:55 PM   #1
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Hybrid Bus Advice

Hello all. I hope I am posting in the right place, please let me know if not. Looking for advice on a potential skoolie purchase.

Been doing a lot of research on busses (big shout out to these great forums) as my husband and I are looking to convert and live in a skoolie full time with our 2 year old daughter. This bus came up in our area (not many quality busses to be had around Maine), but I don't know much about the hybrid/electric busses and am looking for some advice.

2010 International hybrid/electric / bio diesel bus. It is a 7.6L (466 cid) International MaxForce DT diesel and an automatic transmission. It was a city bus.

The buyer intended to use it as a food truck but plans changed. We could probably get it for $8500.

I am wondering if this would work as a conversion like a skoolie, including a roof raise and towing a small car. We were looking for a 40 ft, this is a 36 ft.

Any advice would be so appreciated. Thank you.

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Old 04-09-2020, 03:45 PM   #2
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This is just me (I'm no expert). When I was looking for a bus, I considered a super awesome biodiesel one too, but after looking into it, and how they work, I decided I would never own a biodiesel vehicle. You still need regular diesel to start and stop the bus--so you still need filters, tanks, pumps, etc--and on top of that you have another fuel system that you need to take care of, with limited refueling stations. To me, it's just not worth it. If it's about taking care of the environment, it's not worth it, because you're still using diesel and you shouldn't be driving a school bus anyway. If it's about money (is biodiesel cheaper than regular diesel?), then you shouldn't be converting a school bus to live on, you should just live in a prefabbed motorhome. In all, I decided biodiesel was just a cool concept that would only give me headaches down the road.



This is just my unprofessional opinion.
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Old 04-09-2020, 04:06 PM   #3
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Hi, greatly appreciate your reply. I was mainly just seeing it as a newer, well-maintained, high quality bus that happened to be hybrid. To be honest I hadn't even really thought about the fact that biodiesel fuel wouldn't just be readily available. Being someone who doesn't know a thing about fixing a bus, many of the older school busses seem a little intimidating that if anything went wrong, I'd be at a mechanic's mercy. This bus was the newest looking, best kept one I'd seen and seemed like a potential promise of little mechanical hassle. But,as I said, I know next to nothing so I'm taking it to the forums. Your "nonprofessional" opinion is welcomed by me. What bus did you end up with?
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Old 04-09-2020, 04:08 PM   #4
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Originally Posted by Mandinee1 View Post
Hi, greatly appreciate your reply. I was mainly just seeing it as a newer, well-maintained, high quality bus that happened to be hybrid. To be honest I hadn't even really thought about the fact that biodiesel fuel wouldn't just be readily available. Being someone who doesn't know a thing about fixing a bus, many of the older school busses seem a little intimidating that if anything went wrong, I'd be at a mechanic's mercy. This bus was the newest looking, best kept one I'd seen and seemed like a potential promise of little mechanical hassle. But,as I said, I know next to nothing so I'm taking it to the forums. Your "nonprofessional" opinion is welcomed by me. What bus did you end up with?
buses built after 2003 are quite more complex and expensive to keep alive.
This bus sounds like something expensive and complex. There's a reason its only 10 years old and getting dumped already.
You'll spend a lot more time and money with mechanics with a newer diesel than a properly maintained good running older one.
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Old 04-09-2020, 04:10 PM   #5
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Thanks for the tip. I was told the city automatically dumped it after 10 years not because of any problems, and the person who bought it had food truck plans they put aside. Here is the ad by the way:

https://nh.craigslist.org/cto/7098482441.html
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Old 04-09-2020, 04:14 PM   #6
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Thanks for the tip. I was told the city automatically dumped it after 10 years not because of any problems, and the person who bought it had food truck plans they put aside. Here is the ad by the way:

https://nh.craigslist.org/cto/7098482441.html
If I owned that bus it would only be to resell it to someone who's not terrified of ten thousand dollar + repair bills.
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Old 04-09-2020, 04:15 PM   #7
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I'm terrified of such things.
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Old 04-09-2020, 04:20 PM   #8
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elsewhere

I am looking at this on the other end of the spectrum:

https://nh.craigslist.org/ctd/d/goff...099560079.html


But, its from a dealer that seems a little questionable and I can't figure out why a YMCA would dump a bus with only 60,*** miles. I am skeptical of both under-priced and over-priced busses. I will send a mechanic to check out whatever I purchase but need a little more knowledge before farming mechanics out all over the US.
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Old 04-09-2020, 04:21 PM   #9
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I'm terrified of such things.
I'd avoid any emmission era International Navistar products. 2004 and up.

Take your time and look for something clean and rust free from 2003 or before.
I got my bus on Public Surplus. Its a 1999 with a Cat 3126. The bus has 64k miles on it and its clean.
I paid 1600 bucks for it and I wouldn't take a penny less than ten grand if I were to sell it. Look for one like that. It took a while but it was worth it.
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Old 04-09-2020, 04:21 PM   #10
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Is there an appropriate place in the forums to ask for advice on potential bus conversion purchases?
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Old 04-09-2020, 04:23 PM   #11
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Thanks very much for the advice
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Old 04-10-2020, 03:26 AM   #12
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Is this a second posting for this? It has a bit more information than the last.


Your second CraigsList post has been deleted ... must have sold already.
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Old 04-10-2020, 04:36 AM   #13
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Is this a second posting for this? It has a bit more information than the last.


Your secod CraigsList post has been deleted ... must have sold already.
Oh, I think you're right. I was about to complain that my reply was removed but now I realize this topic appears twice so there's two threads going on about the same thing.
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Old 04-11-2020, 01:55 PM   #14
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This is just me (I'm no expert). When I was looking for a bus, I considered a super awesome biodiesel one too, but after looking into it, and how they work, I decided I would never own a biodiesel vehicle. You still need regular diesel to start and stop the bus--so you still need filters, tanks, pumps, etc--and on top of that you have another fuel system that you need to take care of, with limited refueling stations. To me, it's just not worth it. If it's about taking care of the environment, it's not worth it, because you're still using diesel and you shouldn't be driving a school bus anyway. If it's about money (is biodiesel cheaper than regular diesel?), then you shouldn't be converting a school bus to live on, you should just live in a prefabbed motorhome. In all, I decided biodiesel was just a cool concept that would only give me headaches down the road.

This is just my unprofessional opinion.
Such a load of bunk. Absolutely false. Don't pay attention to this post.

Most diesels will take biodiesel just fine. The only modifications have to do with fuel lines (older ones are not corrosion-resistant, so you would need to replace them - bio is mildly corrosive). I would check all your fuel lines to make sure that they are compatible (most modern diesels are). Most likely they're good as yours is a 2010 model. I would also recommend insulating your fuel tank as well. This can be done cheaply with insulation from your local big box hardware store. Bio has a "cloud point" at which the cold will cause crystals to form in the fuel from micro droplets of water - and petro diesel has these as well. Fuel pumps also will (mlost likely) have a heater built into them, but I would make sure of this as well. You also will need to find out when the last maintenance was done on the filters. Since bio does a really good job of cleaning out fuel lines, you would want to have spare ones on hand to change them out. But if it has already been running bio, then most likely the fuel lines are ok.

Here's a list of biodiesel stations in the USA:

Biodiesel Gas Station Locations in the United States

And the best part is, bio is completely soluble with petrodiesel.

And yes, bio is cheaper than petro diesel. A lot cheaper. Prices only go up marginally if you buy it rather than make your own.

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Old 04-11-2020, 01:57 PM   #15
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Why avoid Navistar? They make great diesels.More than likely they will be better-taken care of, and with easier to find parts for when you need them. You buy old, and parts become harder to find.
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Old 04-11-2020, 02:34 PM   #16
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Why avoid Navistar? They make great diesels.More than likely they will be better-taken care of, and with easier to find parts for when you need them. You buy old, and parts become harder to find.
They started churning out nothing but crap flarn crap in 2004 on up. That's why if you buy a brand new navistar truck it comes with a CUMMINS under the hood.
School bus parts are just medium duty truck parts. Nothing hard to find. Mostly generic pieces when it comes to chassis stuff.
The market has plenty of emissions garbage newer stuff all the time. Because its a hot potato. I sure hate seeing noobs getting stuck with a nice shiny hot potato.
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Old 04-11-2020, 03:53 PM   #17
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They started churning out nothing but crap flarn crap in 2004 on up. That's why if you buy a brand new navistar truck it comes with a CUMMINS under the hood.
School bus parts are just medium duty truck parts. Nothing hard to find. Mostly generic pieces when it comes to chassis stuff.
The market has plenty of emissions garbage newer stuff all the time. Because its a hot potato. I sure hate seeing noobs getting stuck with a nice shiny hot potato.
Navistar isn't crap. Back that up with some evidence, please. They designed the Ford 6.0L PSL is 2004 (only to have Ford @#$%# the coolant system, though). And the exhaust system was fine. That's an engine that was a marvel of engineering, putting out 734 foot-pounds of torque right off the factory floor. Navistar designs good engines and they're very popular in large diesel vehicles. They're good engines, and easier to find parts for as well. I sure hate it when know-it-alls try to pass rumor and innuendo off as fact.
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Old 04-11-2020, 04:52 PM   #18
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Navistar isn't crap. Back that up with some evidence, please. They designed the Ford 6.0L PSL is 2004 (only to have Ford @#$%# the coolant system, though). And the exhaust system was fine. That's an engine that was a marvel of engineering, putting out 734 foot-pounds of torque right off the factory floor. Navistar designs good engines and they're very popular in large diesel vehicles. They're good engines, and easier to find parts for as well. I sure hate it when know-it-alls try to pass rumor and innuendo off as fact.
Maxxforce, vt365, EVERYTHING they've built since 2003 is garbage. That 6.0 is the biggest turd in the history of diesel engines. Ask a navistar tech. The foreman of our shop says so and they're replacing them all the time.
Why are there Cummuns under the hood now??? Oh cause Navistar sucks and their designs sucked.
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Old 04-11-2020, 05:44 PM   #19
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Originally Posted by TheArgobus View Post
This is just me (I'm no expert). When I was looking for a bus, I considered a super awesome biodiesel one too, but after looking into it, and how they work, I decided I would never own a biodiesel vehicle. You still need regular diesel to start and stop the bus--so you still need filters, tanks, pumps, etc--and on top of that you have another fuel system that you need to take care of, with limited refueling stations. To me, it's just not worth it. If it's about taking care of the environment, it's not worth it, because you're still using diesel and you shouldn't be driving a school bus anyway. If it's about money (is biodiesel cheaper than regular diesel?), then you shouldn't be converting a school bus to live on, you should just live in a prefabbed motorhome. In all, I decided biodiesel was just a cool concept that would only give me headaches down the road.



This is just my unprofessional opinion.
You may be confusing Biodiesel with WVO. Biodiesel runs just like Dino diesel.

WVO requires starting and stopping on diesel.

My semi-professional opinion is don't ever put WVO in an engine that you cannot afford to replace.
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Old 04-11-2020, 06:07 PM   #20
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Why avoid Navistar? They make great diesels.More than likely they will be better-taken care of, and with easier to find parts for when you need them. You buy old, and parts become harder to find.
Holy crap, chill Winston.
They make great diesels. More than likely they will be better taken care of! Please explain that statement, how the hell does brand choice make you more likely to be more diligent in your your maintenance? Take a breath, go fire up that awesome 6.0 and go for a cruise.
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