mileage

[christopher]

what can i expect for mileage on a 6v92 t with a bus weight of 26000 lbs?
thanx
chris
mci5c

[prevost82]

Around 6 to 7MPG maybe 8 with a tailwind on the flat with your foot out of it, driving at 55

[christopher]

why so low? the truckers get 7 mpg carying a lot more weight. my friends prevot gets 5.5 w/ an 892 t and thats 40000 lbs.
can anyting be done or are these engines inefficient?
thanx
chris

[TomC]

The 2 stroke engines are naturally less efficient than the 4 stroke engine-especially the electronic 4 strokers in trucks and buses today.  If you installed a Cummins ISL at 425hp and 1350lb/ft torque, you'd probably be tickling the 10mpg at an even 60mph cruise.  I get 5-6mpg with my 8V-71 turbocharged and air to air intercooled pulling my car (34,750lbs).  This is one of the reasons I'm going to convert my truck-I figure I'll get 7-9mpg with the Caterpillar 3406B engine and Allison HT740.  I got 5.4 when pulling 70,000lb.
If you're going to keep your bus for at least 100,000 miles, it maybe worth switching engines. Good Luck, TomC

[Don Fairchild]

What trans do you have what year is your bus. Your mileage will depend on the way the engine is set up and your driving habits.

Hope this helps

Don

[NJT 5573]

Don,

My 6V92 has never seen 6MPG. My bus is not real heavy, 33,000#.

Its DDEC 2. Do you have a solution?

Seems it should be closer to 8, its not alot faster than my 318 was and the 318 would get almost 10MPG coast to coast on Interstate 10. I have 45,000 on a rebuild and use a gallon of oil around 2000 miles. This bus does not smoke and cleans up in about 1 minute no matter how cold, snowed today.

[Barn Owl]

The PO of my father's bus got 6.5 pulling a Ford Ranger. The bus is a 4106 converted to a 6V92T, V730. It is a wonderful upgrade in my opinion. It will run circles around just about anything else. I think better fuel mileage could be had with a little more discipline at the throttle. It's just to easy to use what you have and not hold back.

[jjrbus]

 I have a 79 5C with a 6V71 4 speed auto. I dont know what mileage I get, I dont care and I dont want to know.   I try not to fill  my tank when traveling so I cannot even guess at it . If I knew what it was I would probobly never drive it again !!!

[Dreamscape]

When I first bought our Eagle in 2003 I calculated the milage, around 8 mpg. It weighed 32,000, 8v71, 4 spd and a light foot. I haven't done it since then because I'm with jjrbus "I don't care and I don't want to know". 

[NJT 5573]

If you own a bus and drive it on several trips a year, some in the thousands of miles, you have to know your MPG or you will sure as hell run out of fuel! And NO I won't tell you how I learned this.

[belfert]

I like to have at least a reasonable idea of mileage so I can plan trips and also to decide if I can afford the trip.

[NJT5047]

If you own a bus and drive it on several trips a year, some in the thousands of miles, you have to know your MPG or you will sure as hell run out of fuel! And NO I won't tell you how I learned this.

You learned it just like all the rest of us dumb-a$$es! You ran out of fuel!     
If you haven't run out of fuel, you haven't been bussing long.   
I use a guage.  Beats all that dead-reckoning!   
Figure about 6 MPG, and you'll be OK.  Most of our old coaches will do that plus a fraction...on level ground...with nothing leaking.
I've run out...but it wasn't my fault.  That time was mother earth's fault.  The hill I parked on wasn't my doing.  But it was an education.   
Bill Haga had this esteemed privilege last fall!    Hope he don't mind my spreading this..He told everyone at Kyle's Palmetto Cove "NON Rally".  Bill was clever.  Enlisted Phyllis to go get the fuel.   My spousal component would have suggested I take a hike to....nevermind.   
Oh well, the trials and tribulations of owning and USING a bus.  Gotta be crazy!
Who's coming to Gene Lewis' Busnuts rally in Wade North Carolina next month? May 15 thru 18.
This is near Fayetteville, NC. 
Cheers, JR

JR

[Songman]

The guy who bought my RTS got just over 9.5 on his drive home to NC from California. That was a DDEC IV 6V92 with a ZF 5-speed auto trans in a 29,000 pound bus. And I've seen Don get better mileage out of his 8V92 towing that big ole 4x4 dually pickup of his than most people get from their 4-strokes. So I also don't know why people get such bad mileage. I'm not an engineer so a bunch of numbers about heat and friction won't tell me anything. But people's actual experience makes me think better mileage is available with adjustments to components in a vehicle.

[belfert]

I suspect Don gets good mileage because he is intimately familiar with Detroit 2 strokes and he did some work on his motor.  His idea of a tuneup is a little different than most as he replaced injectors and the turbo during his tuneup. 

I was thinking about fuel costs for a trip I've made every year since 2002.  I've used different vehicles over the years.  In 2002 I had a V10 truck that got 7 MPG pulling a trailer and it cost $700 for fuel.  In 2003 I paid $1.21 for diesel in Cheyenne, Wy.  In 2007 we got 8 MPG in the bus and spent around $1600 for fuel.  Over 10% MPG increase from 2002 to 2007 yet it cost over twice as much.

I wish I got the 9 or 10 MPG that some Dina owners get, but they also have 1997 or newer models with the 12.7 S60 instead of the 11.1 S60 I have.  I've thought at various times about going to a 12.7 motor, but I would have to drive to the moon an back to pay for it in fuel savings.  I don't really need the extra HP as it might save me a whole 15 minutes on a 4,000 mile trip.

[buswarrior]

The biggest problem with all this fuel mileage talk is....

What are your variables and calibrations?

What are you using to measure distance? Odometer? hubometer? GPS? which are calibrated?

How are you deciding how much fuel you used? Bus sitting in the same place, at the same pump, filled to very lip as a starting and ending reading? How many miles and how many fills? How much fuel is one inch difference, and what effect will that variable have on your mileage calculations?

Margin for error is quite wide.

And lots of folks who talk fuel mileage can't show you where they have recorded the data from which their claims are made....

My advice for keeping your spirits up at the end of a trip:

budget for 5mpg, that way, you'll have change left over!

happy coaching!
buswarrior