Brrrrr.... The buses say it's too dang cold around here in TN too!

[Busted Knuckle]

Well yesterday dad and I were bored since we're both here at home and so are all the buses!
So we went down to the shop and played musical buses and pulled the one in the shop out so it could be dumped. (the holding tank was frozen when we went to dump it when it came in off the road.)

So I put it in the shop and opened the access doors to the bottom of the toilet and holding tank and pointed a heater at them and left it overnight.
Well that did the trick because while it was still in the shop I pulled the valve to dump it from the toilet to the holding tank and I heard whoosh!
So we pulled it out, and backed his in (which was froze up too!) the shop and let it thaw out overnight also. (until today)

OK back to yesterday. Well the '05's did start on their own (but we'd cheated by turning on the Wabasto's about 20 mins. prior to trying them), but were very sluggish and rough idling for a little bit!
The '95 Setra 40'er that had been in the shop started right off with not a hint of trouble. (but it had been in the 60* shop overnight too!)
The '97 Dina would crank and make smoke but not start without either! Then died after about 10 minutes of idling on high idle, and would not start and run unless I was fogging it with either. So we put a battery charger on it and left it.
The 8V92 in the '90 Setra cranked and hit right off (but I did cheat and give it a small shot of either before trying!)
The batteries were dead on my "abandoned and temporarily out of service" '95 Setra 45'er. So we didn't even try it.

The church bus (8V92TA MUI) here on the lot for repairs turned over sluggish, so I quit and plugged in the block heater (not having a clue if it worked or not!). And left it on for about 2 hrs. Went back hit the starter and wavroooom first roll of the engine and no either!

Well while we were killing time I fired up "Mater" (my old tried, tired but true GMC 1 ton tow truck) and after a minute of cranking it roared to life. But when I tried the operation of the bed the hydraulics whirled, and whined terribly and would not raise the boom, or the wheel lift, or extend the wheel lift. It did slowly extend the boom and very slowly turned the winches! So I shut it off and promised it I'd get it inside to warm it up.

Today around noon dad and I went back down to the shop and again checked the bus in the shop and the toilet dumped into the holding tank, so we fired it up and pulled it out and around to the dump, and dumped it!
Well while the shop was empty I put Mater in for about an hr with the heater pointed at the hydraulic tank. When I fired it up and tried it it worked flawlessly. (reminds me why when I lived up north we used to run the engine exhaust up next to tank with a joint that could be un-coupled in the winter to make the exhaust dump directly on the front of the tank!)

Then it was back to the Dina we took the filter off and filled it with kerosene and put it back on. Then we looked in the fuel tank and saw it had a layer of like crystallized icy fuel on the top. (or for all I know could have been that way all the way to the bottom)
So we put about 4.5 gallons of kerosene in the tank, and brought the big shop heater out and aimed it toward the side of the tank closest to the pick up tube. Dad pumped the primer pump some before I tried to start it, but it still just cranked and spit, sputtered  and smoked. So dad cranked it wile I fogged with either and it finally hit and ran! Once started it ran real sluggish and rough for about 2o mins and then smoothed out.

So all in all the old tired and true 2 strokes started and ran much better than the 60 series did.

Gotta go back down soon and see if the battery charger and block heater have helped the old '95 45'er!

 BK  

[white-eagle]

and you are doin all this in the freezin' A-- cold because?   Couldn't you find wood to chop, girls to romp, food to chomp or something?  (couldn't think of anything else to rhyme    )

i was changin out a water pump on someone's s&s for them and only becuase they are friends.

although i did have to pop in for a cookie, hot and fresh out of the oven now and again 

[Runcutter]

Bryce, that reminds me of the old days in New England, when we'd let them run all night.  Probably go to jail if we did that now.

Arthur