No start on a Prevost LeMirage today

Jim Eh. · July 31, 2015, 03:10:43 PM

Worked on a LeMirage (?) today. The owner pulled it out of storage after a boost to get it to run then proceeded to back out of the building. After parking it he made the mistake of shutting it off. To boot I think it was in gear when he did so. Took us awhile to figure out what he did, ended up leaving the transmission in an "in gear" state. After we figured that our we had to provide a temporary ground to terminal 26 in the rear electrical box to bypass the neutral safety switch then start the bus and shift the transmission a few times to get back into neutral. After that was straightened away it started like a champ. Don't know the make of the transmission, never had to get under to look.

Assuming it's an HT750 or similar could/does the same thing happen to an MCI (a 9 or 12 to be exact)? If so is the neutral safety switch wired (to ground supply for the starter solenoid) and if so, where is it located?

TheHollands! · August 01, 2015, 05:17:23 AM

I have an MCI 9 and did this once. It was late night and I couldn't see that I had shut it off in Reverse. I wasted a day trying to figure out why it wouldn't start only to realize it was in gear. I didn't have to do any trickery to get it to start, just put it back in Neutral and it started right up. One of my many rookie mistakes. Craig

blue_goose · August 01, 2015, 06:27:39 AM

If it is wired like it should be, it will not stop the engine until it is put in neutral.
Jack

luvrbus · August 01, 2015, 06:30:15 AM

Jack beat me to it they have a relays to prevent shutdown in gear some are in the shift tower some you search for,over time the relays have gone bad and people wire around the relays creating another problem for the next owner

Lin · August 01, 2015, 10:13:09 AM

The neutral safety switch for my 647 can either be in the shifter console or back on the transmission. I thought it was the same for the 740. Mine is on the transmission. Since it is strictly a mechanical setup, when I have stopped it in gear, moving back into neutral gets it going. In this case, there is really no big need for a system to prohibit in-gear shutdown. However, for those that have electronics involved, the need is much more pressing.

bigred · August 01, 2015, 01:42:17 PM

On my Prevost,it automatically shift's into neutral when I turn the switch off!!!!

Jim Eh. · August 01, 2015, 06:16:02 PM

This bus may be set up that way and quite likely is. We did not leave the battery charger any longer than it took to have enough umff to start it and build air to back it out of the building. I am guessing that because he shut it off as soon as he pulled it out of the building it may be possible there was still not enough power in the batteries to shift the trans into neutral when he switched the key off?