Tag: #makingmemories

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Stage 1 rebuild

A tiny wire…

So much support

The amount of calls and tips we received after the last blog was amazing and very heartwarming! Several people helped us with tools or pointed us into the right direction to get the information we needed.

We got in touch with someone who used to work on Cat engines and someone who used to work at the Pearland bus barn. They helped eliminate some of the potential problems and gave advice on how to start the engine directly from the starter without hurting ourselves. We followed the advice and …

IT STARTED!!!

The sound of success

Yes, indeed the bus started! We drove around the storage lot just to have the engine running and the tires rotating. Even though starting via a loose battery on the side of the bus is not how we want to keep starting the engine, it finally felt like we were getting somewhere! Plus, this confirmed that the engine faults were indeed fixed.

Drawings

From another direction we received the electrical drawings for our specific bus we so desperately needed. We traced and traced and traced wires some more. We noticed a “door open” LED that had appeared during all this tracing and we knew there should be a way to bypass all the door safeties. Door safeties are not necessary on an RV.

Wires, safety, and not all freightliners are built alike

From the very get-go, we have suspected that the lack of starting must be a problem with either a wire or solenoid. We did not want to spend thousands of dollars fixing things that do not to be fixed. After tracing all the wires using the drawings, we finally came to the solenoid we needed to bridge to get the bus started by ignition key at the driver seat. And that without impeding any of the other bus operational circuits!

Any freightliner that is not designed as a school bus does not have the door safety circuits so it was merely a matter of figuring out which wires to connect. (or solenoid to bridge)

The red jumper wire did the trick

We took out the interlock solenoid, put in a jumper wire and – praise the Lord – THE BUS STARTED BY TURNING THE KEY UP FRONT!!!!

We drove it home right away. Now it is a matter of closing the engine access hatch we created, putting back the bump guard underneath the engine and fan coil spindle that we had removed for easy engine access. Then we will be back on track so we can continue to prepare for the raising of the roof. And that’s how one little wire stopped us in our tracks for months on end…

Bottom hatch already installed

Onward we go!!

Categories
Stage 1 rebuild

Week 16 – May Update

No start frustrations (Still or again?)

The new batteries did not solve the issue. We have been trouble shooting ever since. Which is very unfortunate since it pushes us way back on our timeline. We have run by every fuse and wire and still did not come up with a sensible explanation on why the bus will not start.

We had great assistance from our electronics guru out of Colorado Springs. He deepened our knowledge and understanding of bus system electronics drawings. It also resulted in elimination of many potential issues that were proven in good order. But it did not get us closer to a start.

What was checked

We checked for loose wires, tested every fuse, checked the ECM, ECU, VIM, VEC, TCC, (yeah learned a LOT about this bus!) fan module, starter, and transmission. We did electrical component checks, tried to jump solenoids the right way as well as the wrong way (getting close to setting a bus on fire, which was no fun but a great heartbeat check) We had a nice battery weld arc because we accidentally connected the positive of one to the negative of the other battery at the end of a very long and tiring day of trouble shooting, destroying the thread of one of the terminals which we then had to fix, and still… nothing.

What we eventually did get is engine faults appearing on the display. The one we are working on now is the boost pressure sensor fault (code 25) and low fuel pressure fault (code 63). Neither should affect the starting of the bus, but we might as well fix them now. Of course, the 63 fault makes sense since the engine is not running.

All this trouble shooting is very educational, but not fun. Especially crawling under the bus in a very dusty and sometimes windy gravel lot does not make for very good moods and positive attitudes.

Why don’t you get a mechanic you ask? Two reasons:

One: skoolie.com is FULL of no start issues. About 95% of them are due to a simple wire disconnects or rusty connections. It is merely about finding out which wire that could be.

Two: skoolie.com is also FULL of regrets. Spending thousands on mechanics who made people replace very expensive components (like the $1000 ECM an $800 HUE or a $500 starter) with no avail, only to discover that $4000 later the problem was a simple corroded wire on a starter solenoid or a starter screw that had vibrated loose.

Another factor is we have no idea where to find someone locally who knows how to work on Thomas pusher busses with a Cat C7. You may understand our trepidation here…

Positive Note:

On a good note, all the inserts for the roof raise are ready to go and they look awesome! We ordered them from Vico Manufacturing here in Houston. They took the sample beam and matched it perfectly! You can check them out here Vico (vicomfg.com)

We have ordered a boost pressure sensor and hope to have better news at our next update…

Categories
Demolition

Week #5

Too many parts for a window

We took the windows that were removed last week completely apart to clean them thoroughly. It was a bit nerve wracking on the first one. After all, it IS very hard to find replacements for them. Once the first one was apart, it became much clearer how they are put together. It is rather simple actually! It takes about 45 mins to wash all the parts for one window. And there are 20 windows. Luckily this is something that can be done during the week at home with the bus in storage.

Removing more panels

We brought the bus home over the weekend to finish the removal of the side walls. The remainder of the ceiling supports were removed to get the bus down to bare bones. The side panels are bent underneath the window frames, requiring a grinding tool to get the panels off. All emergency windows had to be removed to allow a grinder to fit under the window frame, since those windows are constructed a little different. We pulled the insulation from behind once the side panels were off. Absolutely amazing how black and dirty it is back there. The bus was covered in black dust after we were done with it. We ended up with several hundred pounds of steel and a bare bus.

Wheelchair track

We were finally able to cut the last bolts on the remaining wheelchair track. Who knew that would be such a long and time-consuming process! The tool we bought on advice from our visitor from Idaho was definitely worth the money. Too bad we had to wait for the tool to cool down after each cut bolt, since that prolonged the completion of this part of the deconstruction considerably. But it worked and that’s all that matters!

Cleaning

The girls started on the cleaning. Even though a lot of the inside of the bus will be covered up, we want to make sure it is nice and clean underneath. N was very helpful to provide the entertainment. She read several books out loud while the girls worked.

Wiring

More wiring was removed from the front fuse panel, which controls the main bus operation. We started the bus, and all seemed fine. Brakes worked as they were supposed to, but now there was no display – no voltage or mileage displayed, no RPM indication and also no speed indication. It seems, once again, we cut too many wires.

Now the hunt for the right wire. We spent the entire Sunday afternoon finding all the wires that had been cut the day before. Then started the process to slowly try to find where they reconnect. And guess what. As it was getting dark and cold, we suddenly noticed there were two wires that had been missed in the reconnection process. They needed to be reconnected to allow the bus to be taken back to storage since tomorrow is a workday and we need our regular vehicle.

The wires got reconnected. The bus became drivable again, and taken back to storage. Now we have to reconvene on the last wiring bits to clean it all up again.

All in all the de-mob is pretty much complete. Time to thoroughly clean and fill the holes in the floor so we can paint it.

Categories
Demolition

Week #4

This week we did not have much time to spend on the bus. Having the bus at the storage facility prohibits spending an hour here or there when we happen to have a gap in our busy schedule. The trick is figuring out what we can do at the storage yard, and what we can bring home to work on.

The World of Windows

We want to ensure that every inch of the bus has been cleaned and all dirt/germs removed from every crack and crevice to the best of our ability. So, we decided to remove all the windows. Not only do we want to make sure that the frames and rails along with the glass are cleaned, but also that they are working properly and are newly painted. This will allow us to be able to clean the frames and install them with a lot more and higher quality caulk then the standard bus is equipped with. This will prevent leakage in the future.

Popping the windows out is fairly easy. They are locked in their frames with four clips and a bead of caulk on the inside of the bus. So just open the window, undo the four clips, cut the caulk with a knife and pull on the frame. We saved the plywood floor parts that we pulled up last weekend to cut up and reuse as blockers where we pulled out a window. This will ensure that rain and dust are kept out while we fix the windows in our workshop at home.

Extras

In addition to the window removal, we removed some more of the wiring as well as several now defunct switches of the main switchboard. After doing some research, we determined that the inside lights should not run off the bus main batteries. If we’d be at a campsite for a few days, we’d run the risk of draining the starter batteries.

Meanwhile, the flooring for the bus was ordered, as it was on sale. We will be installing waterproof laminate flooring throughout the entire bus.

One step at a time…..

Categories
Demolition

Week #2

How many days does it take to lock a skoolie?

It is the simplest things that seem to take the longest. Locking a skoolie with so many single pane windows may be a little redundant, but we want to make sure that when the bus is finished, people do not just walk off with our stuff.

Locking the Bus

School bus doors are made of glass inside a metal frame. Between the two doors is a rubber seal that closes off when the doors are shut. We had to figure out how to put a lock on them. Our doors have a small frame at the bottom where the lock would fit. We bought a very nice deadbolt lock for this purpose. To make it burglar proof, we made sheet metal supports for the lock as well. At first instance everything seemed fine. Holes were drilled, lock mounted…. but then it appeared the rubber center seal was too thick to put the receiving end on the other door and make the lock work! Since the bus is in storage and we don’t have many daylight hours to work with, the solution was postponed to day two.

On day two, the lock was taken off again. It was moved to the place it should be (drilling new holes in the door) so the mounting on the receiving door could start. Two broken drill bits later and not enough tools on hand to get the broken bits out of the door, the drill was about to embark on a 31ft direct flight through the rear exit. But…then the thought of having to explain the additional expense of a new drill to the CFO came to mind and thus we decided to just call it quits for the day.

On day three, the two broken bit parts were removed and the receiving end of the deadbolt was nicely mounted on the door. It looked awesome and very clean!!!

However, we discovered that since both doors swing out, there was too much gap between the door and the bottom frame when pulling on the locked door. Basically, you could pull the locked door back and undo the deadbolt by sticking your hand underneath the door and unlocking it…

What a waste of time, drill bits and money on a really nice lock! Sigh.

On day four, a different lock was ordered. Seeing the problems with the first lock, we decided to mount this new lock only once the bus was back in our driveway.

Other Work done at storage

Meanwhile, we kept working on cleaning up the wiring inside the bus. This is very tedious work but needs to be done since there are soooo many useless wires that will be in the way when we run our own electrical system. Each time we have to pull off a ceiling panel to follow where the wires go, we need to undo 120 screws. There are 11 panels in this bus so it is rather time-consuming work. Plus, as we learned last weekend, each time we cut a wire that we anticipate could be connected to the starting lockout we need to try to start the bus and move it ….

Even though our HOA frowns upon having an RV in the driveway multiple times a month, we decided to bring the bus home on Saturday to make it easier to put the newest lock on. This would also give an opportunity to drop off some insulation and ceiling panels that were removed throughout the week.

Weekend work at home

Day five of locksmithing was the winner. Having all the tools close by and a set of brand-new sharp drills may have been part of that. The doors look like Swiss cheese, but the lock is on, and our possessions are safe!

By end of day, all the cheese holes were filled. After that, R helped remove the last of the wheelchair rails.

Then we took out the last two ceiling panels which turned out to be a family affair. This left no one to take a picture of all of us with our hands in the air like we don’t care.

Meanwhile, Cindy spent 4 hours on both Saturday and Sunday removing decals/wording/adhesive from the back and right side of the bus. Slow but steady progress.

All in all, great progress this weekend. Let’s see what the coming week brings…

Categories
Beginning

Gotcha Day

New Year = New Adventure!

After months of research on the internet, we determined we wanted a “pusher” (bus with the engine in the back) with a Caterpillar diesel engine (since both Cindy and Ivo had worked on those). Due to commitments back home, we had a very limited time frame to pick out a bus and drive it home.

Our final research took us to Calexico, California to an auto mart that specializes in bus sales. This place had PLENTY of buses to choose from.

The first bus we walked onto was not very encouraging….

Luckily not all buses were in that bad of a condition. This one was much better already. Even though we knew the seats would come out.

Eventually we test drove two busses – one with a Detroit Diesel (Mercedes) engine and one with the Cat engine we wanted. 

After several hours, two test drives, and lots of inspection in/under/ around the buses, our decision was made.

N had more fun with “Princessa” the dog, then having any interest in bus shopping.