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Old 03-05-2018, 01:44 PM   #1
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How long can they sit?

How long can you leave a bus sit in the dry southwest before long term damage starts to creep in?

It looks like I won't be able to get down to my bus for a quite a few more months, so in total she will be sitting for about 8 months? Will I see any long term damage from that?

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Old 03-05-2018, 01:50 PM   #2
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There was a school district in Pinellas county, FL I think that had put a bus out for a year with a "now hiring bus drivers" sign. They went to sell the bus and it was infested with bugs and rodents and basically trashed.
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Old 03-05-2018, 02:10 PM   #3
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I've seen diesel engines that sat for 20+ years crank right up with fresh fuel and a new battery...but...rubber can degrade fairly quickly (seals, hoses, belts. etc.)...but I'd want to check those anyway before driving off into the sunset. As long as critters don't move in and eat the insulation off the wiring (they seem to love that stuff) or otherwise chew things apart, the dry Southwest is probably the best place one could sit.

Is it in a location where there is regular human activity? If so, that helps keep some critters at bay.
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Old 03-05-2018, 02:15 PM   #4
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It's at a covered storage unit parked on gravel with tons of other RV's, and the lady drives around the lot daily!

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I've seen diesel engines that sat for 20+ years crank right up with fresh fuel and a new battery...but...rubber can degrade fairly quickly (seals, hoses, belts. etc.)...but I'd want to check those anyway before driving off into the sunset. As long as critters don't move in and eat the insulation off the wiring (they seem to love that stuff) or otherwise chew things apart, the dry Southwest is probably the best place one could sit.

Is it in a location where there is regular human activity? If so, that helps keep some critters at bay.
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Old 03-05-2018, 02:33 PM   #5
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Old 03-05-2018, 03:46 PM   #6
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It's at a covered storage unit parked on gravel with tons of other RV's, and the lady drives around the lot daily!
Should be ok...do you have anybody near the bus that can check on it? If you were in Houston I could help

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Old 03-06-2018, 08:07 AM   #7
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How long can you leave a bus sit in the dry southwest before long term damage starts to creep in?
The dry southwest is about the best place to leave something sit. However; everything suffers from sitting. In the SW, the sun and heat are the enemies. It sounds like it is covered and that provides a HUGE advantage. Assuming that is true, I don't think you'll have any issues with 8 months.

If it were not covered, I would attempt to block as much sun as possible by putting something in the windows. Hopefully there are no water leaks but that won't be much of an issue until monsoon season (July/August).

Some folks do various things to try and avoid mouse issues. If in a big gravel parking lot, that might not be an issue.

Where about's is it located? Maybe someone here can do something to help if it is local.
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Old 03-06-2018, 10:59 AM   #8
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My brother lived in Palmdale, Calif. Nothing but desert and they have a heavy squirrel population issue. They got into his Ferrari and started nibbling on the wiring harness. Car was totaled due to harness issues. Not to mention the smell of squirrel piss.
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Old 03-06-2018, 01:16 PM   #9
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I once bought a yard donkey from UPS that had set for over 4 years put Powers Service in the fuel put 2 batteries in it fired it up (238 DD) and drove it 27 miles to my shop with no problems.No critter damage although when we first fired it up there was a 10 minute dust and foul smoke "Devil"
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Old 09-25-2018, 03:03 PM   #10
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I had one that set for only a few months and dirt dobbers got into the intake and plugged up any little hole they could find with mud! Not knowing this, I drove the bus only about 5 miles down the road before it made a horrendous sound and seized up. I later discovered that no oil was able to circulate through the engine. It had collected in the top end of the motor , effectively turning it into a rock! All from a little bug!
Although, I live in the deep south... so you might not have that problem out west.
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Old 09-25-2018, 04:24 PM   #11
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I had one that set for only a few months and dirt dobbers got into the intake and plugged up any little hole they could find with mud! Not knowing this, I drove the bus only about 5 miles down the road before it made a horrendous sound and seized up. I later discovered that no oil was able to circulate through the engine. It had collected in the top end of the motor , effectively turning it into a rock! All from a little bug!
Although, I live in the deep south... so you might not have that problem out west.
How does a bug get into a sealed, pressurized oiling system?
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Old 09-25-2018, 04:35 PM   #12
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How does a bug get into a sealed, pressurized oiling system?
Valve cover breather tube. Often wide open on older machines. Next question?
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Old 09-25-2018, 05:32 PM   #13
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Valve cover breather tube. Often wide open on older machines. Next question?
There's more than one drain back hole from the heads to the pan. It would be nearly impossible for a mud dobber to get in and block and prevent flow back to the pan and seize an engine. If you believe a dobber caused your engine to seize, you just don't know enough about motors.
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Old 09-25-2018, 07:23 PM   #14
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Sure. Totally implausible that insects could have brought enough **** into the top of an engine to clog up the very small drainback holes.
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Old 09-25-2018, 08:14 PM   #15
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Sure. Totally implausible that insects could have brought enough **** into the top of an engine to clog up the very small drainback holes.
The drain back holes are hardly what I would call "very small", in fact they are quite large and many.
Here's a T444e head, convince me all those brown holes could have been filed by a mud dobber effectively sealing those holes on both sides to deprive the pump from sending oil through the motor. If you still disagree, you'll be doing it alone.
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Old 09-25-2018, 08:29 PM   #16
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Obviously you're right and the guy who owns a seized engine full of insect detritus is wrong.
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Old 09-25-2018, 08:35 PM   #17
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Obviously you're right and the guy who owns a seized engine full of insect detritus is wrong.
With no proof supporting the claim, I would agree. He could always show us the disassembled engine and the filled holes. Easy to blame something it's not. Hard to prove without disassembling the motor. It's ludicrous to even consider this was the cause. If it happened to me I'd be posting pics of such an outrageous determination.


Look at all those holes and imagine how many trips a bug would make collecting mud to fill all those holes, which by the way are lubricated with oil. I'm through trying to explain, there's just no way a dobber seized that motor, but it makes for a good story.
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Old 09-25-2018, 09:34 PM   #18
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I would estimate I removed a good fifteen or so pounds of those little critters crud from my bus. And from places I have no idea how they got into. Fortunately, none seemed to be in the engine. But we did have a local chap stall and auger in a Cessna a few years back due to dauber debris in the pitot tube. Was deemed "pilot error" since he had left the cover off for a number of days and then took off without making sure it was clear.
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Old 09-25-2018, 09:43 PM   #19
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unless it is a really old engine you would need to go thru the air filter to get to the pcv valve. Nothing is impossible but it sure would be nice to see a picture of it. I would not think that dobbers would like to travel that far thru an oily engine. Maybe there is subspecies ..oildobbers..


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Old 09-25-2018, 10:15 PM   #20
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I have an old citroen DS...1973..Converted it to LPG and drove it for 4 years then I parked it 27 years ago in a barn in the Netherlands. 2 years ago I brought it to the USA in a sea container together with a 1977 XJS and a Lada niva. Before trying to start the citroen I took the plugs out, sprayed some oil on the pistons ( hemi design) and barred the engine over by hand, then cranked it with the starter till I had oil pressure, then did a compression test and found one cylinder very low. Did a blow by and one intake valve turned out was not closing correctly but not hanging either. Obviously i did not want to pull the head so i decided to rotate the valve and "clean" the mating surfaces. So I slid the rocker over, removed the valve spring, Piston on top so that i would not loose the valve by accident and crabbed the end of the valve stem with my cordless drill and gave a it couple of whirls... Ende of story, compression restored and car started up, Drove it of to the next barn. the jag did not fare that well, The Niva with a diesel not either. The rotary pump gummed up , Oh well I will get to it....



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