We fixed the door frame on the driver’s side on the bus and lengthened the door. Hopefully it all fits when we put the door back in place. The wrong sealant was used when we put the gasket back so we may have to redo the gasket later if it proves not to be watertight.
Next, we cut back the fiberglass on top roof at the very front of the bus. Talking about a major fiber glass dust cloud! Can’t be too healthy but it was the only way to get our front transition into place. We cut back about 2 inches so we can lay the transition steel on top of it and tie it all together.
Then it was time to weld the longitudinal transition supports in place. We managed to get three of them in.
Unfortunately, because of some welding drops, we damaged the steering wheel and window washer/blinker in the process. Sigh.
Next we can start skinning! Although lifting up the AC would have been nice, we have no solution for it yet so we will have to change the order of events to make sure we don’t lose too much time
Converting a bus is a slow process. This week we spent cleaning the remaining reflective tape and signage off the side of the bus. After having tried several different methods, using the heat gun and an oak wood wedge seemed to be the only way to easily scrape the tape without damaging the paint. After having the tape removed, we used goo-gone and the plastic scraper to get the glue remains off. Then a bucket with soapy water to clean up the rest. The bus looks a lot less trashy now!
Removing all the gunk
Reflective tape / all Clean
Raising Prep
In addition, we have been pondering how to raise the roof with heavy air-conditioning unit attached to the roof in the back. The coolant lines do not seem to have enough flex to be able to raise the unit 18 inches. To prevent this from hampering the roof raise, we have decided to unbolt the unit from the roof. We built a frame where the unit can rest once we are in the roof-raise storage location.
Always frustrating
Sunday it was time to put the bus back in storage. Lo and behold, the thing would not start. AGAIN! This time it was because we forgot to flip the main breaker after having it parked so the batteries had slowly drained. Sigh. The battery-on-the-side-of-the-bus-jump-start did the trick.
We also removed the remaining rain guards from above the window so it will be easier to undo the screws and make the roof cut in the near future. We will paint them and put them back after the raise.
Next step is putting a bead of caulk between the plywood and the steel side of the bus so when we cut and grind no sparks will fall underneath the plywood and set the thing on fire.
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…
We have had quite a few requests for a bus update. Why has it taken us so long to get back on track? Unfortunately, in a very short time span we had several tragic losses in our extended family and circle of friends. We never experienced this much grief and sadness on a weekly basis during a two-month period. Even living in the comfort that they are now all rejoicing with the hosts of Heaven, the mental impact for those left behind takes huge amounts of energy and does not leave much room for anything other than keeping the girls and ourselves moving forward. Add to that: camps, COVID, and AHG, and any free time we might have had was claimed by activities.
Getting back to life
Now that things are calming down, we are resuming our quest. Once we finally managed to get back to the bus, we tried once more to start it. Of course, it did not turn over. Instead, flash codes 25, 63 and 49 showed up. We are working with the flash codes since we do not have a reader that we can plug in.
Flash code 25 is a boost pressure sensor or intake manifold sensor issue.
Flash code 63 is a Fuel pressure warning
Flash code 49 is an inlet heater relay issue
We wanted to work on the boost pressure sensor code first. Unfortunately, it is impossible to access it from behind or side of the engine. We had to cut a hole in the bench. Always nice to do something like that AFTER having insulated and covered it with plywood…
Plywood, insulation, steel bench and sheet aluminum layers
Not an easy fix
Cutting the hole was not as easy as it sounds and due to limited time availability, it took about three weeks to have the individual cuts complete without destroying anything below the bench. Then we pulled out the sensor from the top of the engine and discovered that the replacement we had purchased was not the same as the sensor we had on the engine. It took two weeks to get the correct part. After that the engine still did not turn over so we proceeded to work on flash code 63.
Next code – fuel pressure regulator
This code can normally be resolved by replacing the fuel pressure regulator. This regulator is placed in another very convenient location: at the back of the engine. Hoping not to have to cut another hole in the bench, we decided to move the air intake line. This was much easier than expected. Even though access was difficult, we could see the front side of the engine clearly. The front of the engine was so caked in dirt and grime that it took us a while to find the regulator. It involved a few more days of research to make sure we would pull off the correct part.
With help from Oma, who had arrived for a two-week visit, we managed to get the grime off and find the problem location.
Ecstatic to be making some headway, we started to undo it (two more trips home for the correct tools). Lo and behold, the part came loose…. after breaking off the attached fuel pressure sensor… AAARGH!! Fortunately, Oma was sitting beside me to hold open the access hatch, which prevented the explicits from coming out of my mouth.
Oma helping to keep the calm, shine her light, hold the hatch, clean and preserve
Perseverance pays off
A few frustrated deep breaths and onward we went, unbolting the entire system. After blocking off and covering the now open fuel line, we took the section home. A little cleanup and reassembly, then back online to order a new fuel sensor. These have changed since this Cat was built so we hope the new version works the same way.
The old and new fuel pressure regulator and fuel pressure sensor
We did spot fuel in the electronic part of the sensor, a common issue with the Cat C7, so a replacement was due but still more money and time spent. We remounted the assembly and put back the air intake line. Re-strapped all the electronic cables and re-tightened all the bolts we had loosened for the easy access.
More delays
We spent a day replacing the batteries in the bus with fully charged ones. Then a day to figure out how to reset engine error codes. And of course, the latter did not work. Meaning we now have run all electrical possibilities and replaced:
Batteries
Starter
Boost pressure sensor
Fuel sensor
Fuel regulator
All of this, plus a lot of prayers and we are still stopped dead in our tracks. And we have not made one step of progress since May. We now officially have reached the point where we need to call in assistance. Frustrating, but we look forward to the moment where we have a purring engine 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…
