1998 Bluebird International quits!

[lbranin]

Last Fall I bought a 1998 Bluebird International T444 (3800). My cousin and I worked furiously to convert it for our trip out West from Florida.

We have a problem where it slows down and quits. We were driving on Interstates and felt we were a danger always being so slow or stopped on the side of the road. If you let is sit awhile it will start. We have changed the fuel filters several times. It would be really bad if it did this in the middle of a big city! Yikes!
And it seems to have no power going up a hill, is that normal?

And the second thing is it is very bad about fishtailing. We were flat towing my sons Jeep behind it. When I bought it one king pin had been replaced and someone said you should never replace one. It has air ride and a mechanic adjusted the bags so they don't deflate below about 110 pounds. He thought that maybe the sensor in the bags was making it inflate and deflate too much and causing the fishtailing. That helped some where it was tolerable but... It is VERY hard to keep it in the lane!

The inside of the bus is very nice. My son works in Wyoming for the Summers and it is built for off grid. Has 180 gal. of water under the bed (we traveled with 60 gal only) 4 6v batteries, a solar frig and freezer composting toilet and shower and a sink and stove.
We did not even get it out West. Had to leave it in MO and had it shipped home I do not know how it would get up the mountains in Wyoming when it struggled so with the hills in Tennessee. The last day out it took us 9 hours to go 275 miles as it kept quitting!

A part of me wants to abandon the project and sell it but my cousin put his heart and soul into the build. And it is perfect for what my son needs. Or the next crazy idea I had was take the engine off and make a 5th wheel out of it. That would require a new super duty truck!
Did we buy the wrong bus for traveling across the country? It has to have high ground clearance so the pushers would not work. I thought I did my homework.
Any suggestions?

Thanks, Leslie

[crazycal]

I had a similar problem with loss of power on my Excursion on my way back home from Texas. It has a 7.3 Power Stroke which is basically the same engine as a 444E. I changed the fuel filter and fuel pump. I also changed the ICP sensor. None of that helped with the problem. Now that I am home, I am getting ready to drop the fuel tank. It turns out that there are screens on the fuel pick up that get clogged. My tank has never been dropped and I know the screens are filled with crud. I don't know if it is the same as your bus but it wouldn't hurt to check.

[crazycal]

I don't understand what you are saying about the kingpins. When they are worn, they need to be replaced.

[gbstewart]

where you getting any smoke out the tail pipe? blue color? black? you could have bad injectors, how many kms on the motor?
my t444e runs like a champ and i have driven it all over, and I would take it anywhere, no you didn't buy the wrong bus, just have a hick up to fix
gbstewart

[lbranin]

I suspect the gas tank. I will check into that.

The king pins had to do with why it is so hard to steer, maybe? The bad one was replaced and the other one is OK. The front end has been aligned, tires rotated and balanced and the steering is still squirrelly! Had an anti-sway bar put on the front and that did not help at all. The guy that adjusted the air bags so they can not deflate so much was on the right track and that help with the steering.

[lbranin]

The bus has about 120,000 miles on it. Not sure about the smoke. I didn't notice any but when it is slowing down and getting ready to quit I am just trying to get to a safe place and not noticing smoke.

[lbranin]

I hope it is not injectors that sounds expensive!

[Dragonpop]

As far as the fishtailing I would check to see if the air bag suspension has a
track bar attached to hold the suspension from moving side to side in the
frame. If it does have a track bar you may have some worn out bushings
allowing the suspension extra movement.

[claydbal]

libranin, my bus has a pre-filter that was clogging and causing the very same symtoms. cleaning it would restore power. i dont know if you have a pre-filter, but if not, its going to be in the tank pickup as stated above.

[lbranin]

Dragonpop you might be on to something. The mechanic that adjusted the air bags so they keep higher inflation said at first he was going to to it the other way so they could not inflate over 90 pounds. But he said "that made the whole chassis move" I should have questioned that farther.

[lbranin]

I am going to clean the fuel tank. And it seems to happen either going up hill it sputters and quits or if you take your foot off the gas pedal and then accelerate again. It dies. Not getting fuel?

[lbranin]

I am so happy with how the inside turned out. My son wanted it so we could see out all the windows. The bathroom has thin flat walls that store under the mattress and we slide them in place. I am going to try to attach a photo.
The mechanical issues and the fishtailing have got us in a pickle. But I love our bus!

[gbstewart]

looks nice , great job
at 120,000 thats nothing for that motor, the injectors use oil pressure to make them work, if the oil pump starts to fail it causes a lost of power, Google how to check oil and fuel pressure, also there might be a small fuel screen beside the fuel filter canister.
When looking for trouble shooting, look under 7.3 powerstroke, there seems more info out there (same motor)
gbstewart

[lbranin]

Thanks a lot to everyone! It gives me ideas to trouble shoot.

[Booyah45828]

Find a good mechanic. The fishtailing is in the rear suspension. As someone else pointed out, check the track bar bushings, that'd be my bet.

You're loss of power sounds exactly like fuel restriction. Change the filters first. Then I'd blow air backwards into the fuel tank to temporarily clean the pickup off. I'd also check for any lines that are kinked. Make sure the lift pump is working good too. A weak one will cause fuel starvation. If you're still stumped check to make sure the rubber lines haven't swollen up on the inside.

To make diagnosis easier, you can install a fuel pressure gauge into the system after the fuel filter. That will tell you right away if it's fuel related or something else.

[jazty]

Originally Posted by gbstewart

there might be a small fuel screen beside the fuel filter canister.

Check the pre-filter screen first! You'd be surprised what can be lodged in there. I had stuttering and when I opened up the canister found plastic from a zip lock bag or something similar. How?! Did a school kid stuff his lunch bag down the fill spout? I'll never know.

[cowlitzcoach]

This may sound too easy but make sure the fuel cap if it is a vented cap vents properly.

I purchased an IHC chassis bus with the T444 in it. I ran it around town without any problems.

On the first leg of the trip from MI to WA I experienced severe loss of power as I was getting into Chicago. It was about 3:00 PM. Not a good place or time to be having issues with loss of power.

I limped it off the highway to where I could get a new fuel filter thinking that may have been the problem.

I waited to change filters until I was at the fuel station so that I could use fuel from the station pump to pre-fill the filter.

When I went to take off the fuel cap it felt as if it wasn't going to come off.

Somehow the vent has gotten messed up. Once the tank had gotten to a certain level the vacuum became so great the lift pump can't overcome the vacuum which resulted in a lack of fuel, which in turn presented itself as a lack of power.

I refilled the tank, put the filter in the glove box, and made it the rest of the way across the country without another hiccup.

So my suggestion is to do the easy thing first and run with the fuel tank cap loose enough to let air in but not so loose that you will lose fuel out the filler or lose the cap.

[lbranin]

Cowlitzcoach. We did notice that when it does this is when the tank is less than half full and when we stopped for gas the cap was vacuumed on. One more thing to check!

Thanks to everyone. I Am feeling much better about the bus. I was really discouraged!

Next we need to see why it fishtails and is so squirrelly. The tires are new. They have been balanced and aligned. Someone said maybe the "caster" needs to be different as the back end is up high

[sdwarf36]

If you can easily + safely, pop the top off your fuel filter (it IS a screw on cap on top like the 7.3-correct?) and see if the bowl is full. Also what GB said-there is a little tiny inline screen off the side of the bowl that goes to the fuel pressure regulator that is known to plug. A great diesel website is Diesel Forum - TheDieselStop.com.
For the fishtaling-try jacking up the front end and steering the wheels side to side-make sure there is no binding. I had a tight steering box on my first trip-there was no freeplay-so you had to steer the wheel back after any input. It FELT like you were fishtailing-even though it was just constant correction.

[lbranin]

Yes I have changed the filters. And the bowl is full of fuel. Never noticed a screen I will look for that.