Hi I’m Leah

[cadillackid]

the ICP is what shut you down most likely.. glad to hear you are back on the road..



the fuel filter is easy to replace for you in the future.. souydns like maybe that bus sat for a long time and has some rough fuel.. id change that filter again when you got home just to be sure..



the fuel pump in the T444E is mechanical.. old-school Lobe off the cam runs it...



the Injectors themselves mulltiply the lift pump pressure ( 47-72 PSI depending on your year and whether the fuel spring TSI was performed)..


keeping your engine oil cleaned and changed often is Imperative on the 444E, the engine oil is used as hydraulic fluid to actuate the injectors for the fuel shots into the cylinders.. the ICP sensor tells the computer what pressure that is.. and the IPR valve actually regulates it.. if either one of those loses connection it will turn on the WARN light and may shut you down..


2600 RPMs wont destroy the T444E, the ford 7.3 is based on this engine and spins at 3200 RPM, albeit it has a different head gasket.. but the bottom end and valve-train are the same ..


2600 RPMs very well may Over-heat ion Hot summer conditions for extended times on the highway.. mine would get warm.. the fan should roar when your temp gauge gets just to or slightly above the 210 mark.. at 80 degrees out you'll be fine.. but at 95. I was running warm at 2600 RPM on the highway..


the throttle pedal on a T-444E is mapped to an RPM and not to engine load.. so even though your engine may not be loaded down hard.. to maintain 60+ MPH you'll likely have to put your foot to the floor.. (not sure who came up with that hair brained scheme of pedal mapping)..



the 444E is generally pretty reliable but dont plan on hauling ass in it even if you re-gear your bus.. its not a fast engine.. but it will get you there (for real.. even though you got shut down once I know you are thinking.. reliable? really??)..



I swapped my transmission and turned up the smoke on mine, which makes it a real runner.. but I have no idea how it will effect longevity..



-Christopher

[dredman]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

YAY!!!!
I kinda wondered if it wasn't just gummed up from the 18 months of sitting.
Learn how to replace the fuel filter! Its EASY on your engine.

I pulled the filter Monday night, it looked fine, and nothing in the reservoir - it is VERY easy!

[brokedown]

My bluebird had two fuel filters. Not sure on my Thomas.

[LeahBaker]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

the ICP is what shut you down most likely.. glad to hear you are back on the road..



the fuel filter is easy to replace for you in the future.. souydns like maybe that bus sat for a long time and has some rough fuel.. id change that filter again when you got home just to be sure..



the fuel pump in the T444E is mechanical.. old-school Lobe off the cam runs it...



the Injectors themselves mulltiply the lift pump pressure ( 47-72 PSI depending on your year and whether the fuel spring TSI was performed)..


keeping your engine oil cleaned and changed often is Imperative on the 444E, the engine oil is used as hydraulic fluid to actuate the injectors for the fuel shots into the cylinders.. the ICP sensor tells the computer what pressure that is.. and the IPR valve actually regulates it.. if either one of those loses connection it will turn on the WARN light and may shut you down..


2600 RPMs wont destroy the T444E, the ford 7.3 is based on this engine and spins at 3200 RPM, albeit it has a different head gasket.. but the bottom end and valve-train are the same ..


2600 RPMs very well may Over-heat ion Hot summer conditions for extended times on the highway.. mine would get warm.. the fan should roar when your temp gauge gets just to or slightly above the 210 mark.. at 80 degrees out you'll be fine.. but at 95. I was running warm at 2600 RPM on the highway..


the throttle pedal on a T-444E is mapped to an RPM and not to engine load.. so even though your engine may not be loaded down hard.. to maintain 60+ MPH you'll likely have to put your foot to the floor.. (not sure who came up with that hair brained scheme of pedal mapping)..



the 444E is generally pretty reliable but dont plan on hauling ass in it even if you re-gear your bus.. its not a fast engine.. but it will get you there (for real.. even though you got shut down once I know you are thinking.. reliable? really??)..



I swapped my transmission and turned up the smoke on mine, which makes it a real runner.. but I have no idea how it will effect longevity..



-Christopher

Thank you so much for all this info! I love the 7.3 which is why I went ahead n bid on it even tho I knew it had been sitting a while (since June 2017). What’s kinda funny is I had bid on a bus a lil over an hour from where I work n got outbid where I couldn’t go higher at the time. So I bid on another n outbid once again. 3rd times the charm, this one only had less than 15 minutes left with that auto 3 minute extension if anyone else bids in the last bit til there’s no more bids. Oh the anticipation of reload reload reload the page n then boom, done, I win!!! So much excitement!!! The mechanic said it’s a good bus even as dirty as it is n will be even better when I get it converted. They were all quite happy for me.

I’m planning to get a full PM aka oil change done on it soon. In a lil bit I’ll be back over by dredman. He’s gonna take a ride with me. I’m hearing it shift 3 gears but not sure if it’s actually shifting into the 4th gear. Sometimes it’s difficult to catch when it shifts which is rather odd to me but we’ll see.

The highest I’ve seen the temp get up to is about where 190-195 would be.

Yeah, even tho it did shut down, it still feels like it has lots of power. Goes up hill without a problem but then again there’s not much in it yet. For not going fast, here’s my thoughts. Life is not a race, it’s all about the journey. Slow down n smell the roses. Relax n enjoy the scenery. So going slow, I’m all good with that. Yeah I like to drive faster, but once I’m done trucking n am in the Skoolie full time, there’s no need to rush n don’t want to rush either. I’ve thought about a different transmission n different gears. Maybe switch them out but not yet

[LeahBaker]

Originally Posted by brokedown

My bluebird had two fuel filters. Not sure on my Thomas.

This one is a blue bird too.

[LeahBaker]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

YAY!!!!
I kinda wondered if it wasn't just gummed up from the 18 months of sitting.
Learn how to replace the fuel filter! Its EASY on your engine.

It all looks so tiny under the hood compared to the Peterbilt I drive. I’m planning to learn as much as I can about doing as much of the work on all of it myself.

[LeahBaker]

Originally Posted by dredman

I pulled the filter Monday night, it looked fine, and nothing in the reservoir - it is VERY easy!

I’m looking forward to learning more about doing all the work on this bus that I physically can do. I’ve got a lot to learn. Your help is very much appreciated too

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by LeahBaker

It all looks so tiny under the hood compared to the Peterbilt I drive. I’m planning to learn as much as I can about doing as much of the work on all of it myself.

That's a good idea.
Another thing to look at on the 444E is this idler pulley that's on the drivers side middle of the front of the engine. They commonly fail.

[dredman]

Waiting for Leah to start her BUILD thread?


The rest of the story - or at least SOME of the video I shot and you have not seen yet. If you watched the 1st four vids, some of that is in here too, towards the beginning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHajm7ExQbc

[Brad_SwiftFur]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

The 8.3 Cummins is king in the school bus world.
There are Crowns with big cam 855 Cummins but they're rare fetish items and folks collect em.

How about one that had an N14 Cummins? (Columbus GA had a few sell recently.) VIN checks confirmed the listing of N14 engines.

[LeahBaker]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

That's a good idea.
Another thing to look at on the 444E is this idler pulley that's on the drivers side middle of the front of the engine. They commonly fail.

Cool I’ll check that out. I made it all the way back home and then to where I work. I’m concentrating more on the mechanical stuff before really doing much on the conversion even. I drive truck over the road so it’s not like I need the conversion done ASAP anyway. I’ll definitely get that part looked at along with literally everything else. There’s a few things I know need to get done like the driver side kingpin, an air leak and a couple lights which those are all gonna be changed out to LED. Oh, the gauges don’t always work and the dash lights don’t work at all. I drove thru heavy rain n the floor got wet. It looked like it was coming from the wheel well. I’ll know more about that when I pull the floor up. I’m seriously considering getting the floor n walls done with rhino lining after the current floor is out, metal cleaned n prepared. A bit on the pricey side maybe but sure does a good job of sealing.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by Brad_SwiftFur

How about one that had an N14 Cummins? (Columbus GA had a few sell recently.) VIN checks confirmed the listing of N14 engines.

Well those would be the real Unicorns of the East then!
My vin checks on my old 3800 short bus showed an available 14 liter engine.

[reedy]

I live on my farm.