Bus Archives

All About School Bus Exhaust Leaks

School Bus Exhaust Leaks and What To Do About Them On a school bus it’s common practice to walk around with a ball peen hammer and tap on all of the elbows throughout the system. These areas are a weak spot because(my opinion)they have been bent from the straight position to an angle position. The… Continue reading All About School Bus Exhaust Leaks

HDX School Bus Heater Control

HDX School Bus Heat Control Valve As time goes on as we all know technology changes and this is still true for controlling the heat flow on a Thomas HDX Pusher School Bus. In the old days the heat control was simply a cable attached to the valve which was a throttle plate plumbed into… Continue reading HDX School Bus Heater Control

School Bus Mechanic Daily Routines & Troubleshooting

Another Day In The School Bus Garage You never know from one day to the next what kind of repairs are going to develop in our shop. It could be an air leak, oil leak, coolant leak, brake vibration, front end shimmy, engine complaint you name it. That’s why this job is never boring with… Continue reading School Bus Mechanic Daily Routines & Troubleshooting

School Bus Pusher TPS Code

Throttle Position Sensor Failure Last week one of our highway run Thomas HDX pushers called in with a no throttle’ complaint. I sent one the mechanics out to investigate. He reported back saying that full throttle only gets up to 700 RPM. He hooked up the laptop and it came back with a TPS code… Continue reading School Bus Pusher TPS Code

School Bus Electrical Problem

Friday Afternoon School Bus Battery Voltage Problem It’s very common for our fleet to have a Friday afternoon service call….a real mystery why this happens and can’t be explained. Between 2:30 and 3:00 pm is the most common afternoon run starting time in our fleet and I got a call from one of the out… Continue reading School Bus Electrical Problem

A Peculiar School Bus Service Call

Since this first occurrence there has been two more instances with the same bus model same year. The dealer will be replacing the radiator under warranty and the OEM representative has been notified. Out of three buses 2 of the radiators have been damaged requiring replacement. Spring Load And Fatigue The 2 bars that intersect… Continue reading A Peculiar School Bus Service Call

School Bus Vehicle Inspections and Repairs

Motor Vehicle Inspections A Very Necessary Routine Every month there are a certain amount of motor vehicle inspections. The average number of inspections runs around 6 -8 per month. There are 66 buses in our fleet so the inspections are spread out over the year. This week being the last one of the month… Continue reading School Bus Vehicle Inspections and Repairs

The Thomas ER Saf-T-Liner School Bus

Thomas Bus Pusher ER Saf-T-Liner Memories Of all the Thomas buses my favourite model is the saf-t-liner pusher. It was mainly hard wired and much easier to work on using raw troubleshooting especially when dealing with electrical problems. Over eighteen years ago when I started with the shop they were running 3208 Cat diesel… Continue reading The Thomas ER Saf-T-Liner School Bus

Today at the Bus Garage

Take The Video Tour Of Our Garage Below I’ve added a video of a quick tour of the garage. The wash bay is the new home to our bulk oil tanks. They are replacing the originals due to age and size of them taking up room in the adjacent service bay. Watch the video for… Continue reading Today at the Bus Garage

Multiplexing On A School Bus

An Example Of A Multiplex Wiring Schematic In the Video below I’m checking Out A Multi-Plex Wiring Circuit On A C2 School Bus. You will see the bulk head module (photo above). It sends and receives inputs and outputs and controls other modules communicating through the J1939 wrg. (You will find more details below) The… Continue reading Multiplexing On A School Bus