Bahhh.....Humbug! (long whiney post, so if you ain't interested, don't read it!)

[Busted Knuckle]

Just when ya think things are getting back to normal, All heck breaks loose!

OK let's just start with not long after the rally was over and all guest had parted (even Cody & Libby), things were getting back to normal (what ever that is!) !
And I get a call Saturday afternoon around 2:00 PM from a company from Florida with a group in Nashville needing local transportation, and a ride back to FL. (their bus broke down in Mongomery, AL and they hired a company to take them & drop them off in Nashville thinking their coach would be repaired the next day. ~ NOT! So now they need more help!) They need me to P/U @ 3rd and Broadway in Nashville @5:00 PM and transfer to Opry Mills Hotel. Then after the "Formal" take a load back downtown @10:00. And want to be P/U again @ 3:00 AM and brought back to the hotel again. Then load Sunday @ 11:00 AM going back to Tallahassee, FL and dropped off. (I tell them I can get an associate to handle the 5:00 PM transfer, and I'll be there to cover the rest of it.)
So I get one of our associates from Nashville to handle the local transfer. I arrange for one of our drivers to meet me on Sunday AM and take the bus/group to Florida, drop off, get some rest and return home. (All is good up to now!)
OK I take the tried and true '95 Setra S215 and head for Nashville. I get half way there when I realize it's gotten colder instead of warmer in the bus and I have the heat on FULL BLAST! So I pull over and check the coolant level, circulation pumps, and anything easy to check that could have messed up.
I find nothing obviously wrong with it. So I call my uncle who had asked for the weekend off and already turned me down to do 2 other rescue missions on Friday night and this one here 2-3 hrs ago, to go to the shop and fire up our old trusty '85 96A3 ("Gus the Bus"), and swing by the fuel stop and head my way while I turn around and come back for it.
About a half hr. later he calls me back and tells me "Bryce there is something wrong with "Gus" she ain't got no power, andis smoking terribly". While he is telling me this we both here a huge "KAPOW", and he tells me "uh...it just went from black smoke to white smoke! And I can't see nothing behind me!" I told him "well great we just lost a turbo!"
He asked well what do you want me to do now. So I told him since he was only 4 miles from the shop to turn it around and try to limp it back to the yard.
He made it back to the yard about 5 minutes before I did and had just pulled his truck up behind it to use the headlights to see better. There was oil every where, and coolant too! So I told him "F... it I ain't got time to deal with it!"
So we checked out Dino (the '97 Dina on lease to us!) and I fired it up and hauled but to Nashville.
I made it down there to the hotel in plenty of time to make the 10:00 PM transfer, went to my already paid for room and stretched out and watched a little TV and then went and did the 3:00 AM transfer.
Sunday Mike met me at the hotel, as I was finishing up his pre-trip inspection. We went and fueled the bus and came back, just in time to meet up with the drivers of the other 2 buses on this move. (first time I have seen them, or seen anyone around their buses since I have arrived!)
Mike goes to FL, and I bring his van home.
When I get home I check out the MCI and it is out of oil and has coolant steadily dripping out of the airbox drain (slobber tube) on the right side. (16 hrs after being parked!) OK the oil thing is my fault for having him "limp" it home, as I knew it was burning or blowing oil out because of the "white smoke"!
So again I got disgusted and said the heck with it, I'm going to the house and will check it out tomarrow!
Monday came and I called Don Fairchild and decribed it to him adn he confirmed to me #1) yes probably just as I thought a turbo, and #2) what I really didn't want to hear "and probably a cracked head"!
OH boy ain't we just having fun now! This is the engine we just transferred into this bus about 10,000 miles ago and was a "new-remaned" engine just 90,000 miles before that! (we bought it "new" and installed it ourselves, and had mileage documentation on it since it was one of our own units it came out of!) So we just lost a 100,000 mile engine over a bad turbo! Bad thing is, I had doubts about the condition of that turbo @ the time of the swap as "it just didn't feel right" to me, but used it anyway! (the bus we took it out of has sat for over a yr. with a broken frame before we pulled the engine!)

OK so we got an engine down in one, and no heat on the other.
Well I decide to check out "Lil' Bus" now and find out why no heat!
I check this, I check that and can't figure out what in the world it can be. So I call Setra's tech support and ask for help.
First thing the guy asks is "are the coolant bypass valves opened or closed?" I told him "we never open them and keep the bypass closed all the time yr round as we have never had problems with the A/C not being able to cool it!" So he asks "have you had the coolant drained for any reason lately?" "Well as a matter of fact we did just replace a hose coming off the bottom of the water pump last week!" I tell him.
So he tells me "oh well you have air pockets in the heat exchangers and need to bleed them, it ain't hard to do. You do have the special tool for opening the bleeder valves don't you? Ah well to be honest I ain't never even heard of it, let alone seen one or have one!
So I tell him that, and he says "no problem I'll get one to ya right away!"
SO I thanked him and hung up.
Now I have been working on this style Setra for 7-8 yrs, and ain't never had to bleed the exchangers before, so I get to thinking and decide "that's a bunch of hogwash!"
So back down at the bus I pop up the floor panel over the transmission and find the "bypass valves." Yeah the ones we never touch!
And low and behold they are open, which allows the coolant to take the short circuit and go back to the engine instead of going all the way to the front of the bus and through the heating system! I close them forcing the coolant to go thru the whole system and walla we have heat!

So I ask Booger and dad had they opened them, and of course they both said no! Then we get to thinking this is the bus we had @ Setra in Orlando back in the summer with the A/C over condensating and dripping water out of the ceiling on people! Well this was the one were they had it for a week and it leaked worse before we made it out of Orlando, than it did before they worked on it!
So we have now figured out who opened those valves!

OK that problem is solved, and "Gus the Bus" is still sidelined until we have more $ and a better idea what we wanna do with her!

Now fast forward to more recent times last weekend the A/C compressor in that same bus that was 11 months old to date & $4,900 w/clutch. Started knocking & vibrating fiercely!

Then on Thursday Jeff calls and tells me "Ah boss I sure hate to tell you this, but I was backing up at a McDonalds to park, and this lady backed out in front of me and distracted me and when I took my eye off the mirror to watch her, I bumped this brick wall around the dumpster!"
OH boy here we go! So I told "hey ain't no big deal, as long as nobody is hurt!" He said "nope nobody hurt, not even the bus, just my pride. But look here this lady at McDonalds is saying the wall is cracked from me hitting it, and I promise you boss this crack is old and has be caulked before trying to repair it. Beside you no if I hit it hard enough to crack that wall there would be some damage to this bus!"
OK I tell him "get witness statements and take pictures and exchange info with the manager."
He calls back and my sister answers because I am on another call. He tells her he is so glad to hear her voice instead of mine because he just knows I am going to go off any second! (who me?)
About that time I am printing the pictures he has emailed from his phone and there ain't no way in you know where my bus did this!
As I am stating that dad takes the phone from my sister and asks "Jeff are you kidding us, the manager really thinks you did that?"
Jeff said "No sir, Mr Gene as a matter of fact she's standing right here. I'll let you talk to her!"
So dad is polite and introduces himself and she does the same. Dad tells her "my son just got the pictures of our bus, and that wall, I have to be honest the wall looks as if it has been damaged for a long time and there ain't no damage to our bus!"
She blah, blah, blah, bablahs for a minute, and dad tells her "OK you do that and get back to us!" Then he tells her, "oh and you might want to be sure, because I can tell you now you don't want to deal with my son on this. He's already fuming mad that we are being blamed for something obviously previously damaged!" (what? me fuming mad? I tell ya I take a lot of very bad flak and abuse around here for no reason!)
Well we ain't heard no more about that!
But a little while later Jeff calls and "hey boss you know I told you it didn't damage the bus?"
I said "yes?" He says "well I guess it did, because as soon as I got out on the road, that plastic corner piece started flapping in the wind, so I pulled over and duct taped it!"
I told him "don't worry about it, it has some little plastic pieces that the bolts go thru and hold it on, they break easily, and we have a spare corner piece anyway!"
He asked "boss, you feelin' OK today?" I said "sure, why?"
He laughed and said "you don't never take nothin this easy!"

Then on Sunday I am coming back to Sikeston, MO from Joplin, MO in #742 (dad's personal "new"bus) with the Special Olympic Team we haul regularly. And as I'm out in the hammer lane passing someone climbing a hill I see a huge "vapor" cloud in the mirror and as I get back over I see a wet trail following me from lane to lane.
So I take the exit and as I am slowing down the engine dies and the warning chime dings!
We crap this ain't good, I tell myself as I open the door and tell the counselors to keep everyone on the bus while I check it out!
As I open the engine compartment there is coolant everywhere. And I am having trouble telling where it came from. Just then Chad, one of the counselors say's "hey Bryce the guy in the truck that pulled over in front of you said you dumped antifreeze all over him!"
Well I spoke before thinking and snapped back "Well NO S**T, why's he think I pulled over here? DUH?" Just as it came out of my mouth I looked up andhere the guy is stand 3 feet from me! LOL! Opps.

Anyway he realizes I have serious problems and ain't in a good mood, and tells me "it's OK, I should have realized you knew it or you wouldn't have stopped"
I laughed and told him "well....I'd stopped but not by choice, or in a desirable spot since it shut down on me!" He laughed too, adn we both kept looking for a problem.
Finally he laid down and slid in under the left rear side and immediately "yelled here it is got a big ol' hose blown!"
I knelt down and looked and sure enough it was blown all the way out!
So I looked around and asked him "is there any kinda place I can get to off the road and let the counselors safely get these kids off the bus while I get it fixed or make other arrangements?"
He said there was a DQ on the other side of the highway. (I couldn't see it, but took his word for it.)
So back on the bus, and restarted it and put it in gear and out across the overpass I went. Just as I started turning off the main road it died again and I man handled it around the corner into DQ's lot and over around the building to a long open spot. Had the group unload and went to work accessing the problem better!
Sure enough odd ball metric hose just under 3" in diameter is completely blown out and only about 4" long to begin with!
So my sister who is also along on this trip says I saw a bay door open @ Kenworth!  I looked around and said "where?"
She pointed across the road and sure enough there was a big truck shop with a bay door up. I said "I don't see a Kenworth sign, but hey there is someone there!" Sis says "I saw a Kenworth sign on the other side when we were out on the highway."
The guy who stopped says "yeah they are over there, and we also have O'Rielly's in town too!"
So he offers to run me where ever I need to go.
So with blown hose in hand we jump in his truck and go across the road to the truck shop which turns out to be a trucking company shop. But it is still my best bet and we go on in the open bay door.
One of the guys working asks "can I help ya?"
So I show him the hose, and ask "got anything like this?" He looks at it and immediately shakes his head while saying "no, not that big!"
I looked at him and "said aw, come on PLEASE, you are my only hope here in a small town in the middle of no where on a Sunday afternoon! Man I really need anything that will work, I got a group of handicapped Special Olympic Contestants over @ DQ and a broke down bus. I'm just trying to get them on home to Joplin!"
He looks it over, grabs a tape measure, measures it, sits it down and walks off. He comes back still with that sorry man look, and shaking his head. Picks it up again pulls out a micrometer, measures it and says I'll be right back!
He comes back about 5 mins later with a 3-4 foot stick of brand new blue 3" coolant hose.
As he sits it up on his tool box and starts cutting me 6" off he says "we ain't Kenworth, but I went and found their keys. Our boss owns both" with a grin !
I ask him "how much I owe ya?" as he hands me the piece of hose.
"Aw just get out of here and get those kids home!" he says. So as I am fixing to walk out I reach in my pocket and throw a wad of $1 up on his tool box (not sure how much it was, between $5-$10), and walk out.
The guy drives me back to DQ where we promptly put it back on. And start pouring the 9 gallons of spare water I  had in the reservoir tank. I sent someone to find a place to fill jugs while pouring and they got back just as the last one was poured in saying "there is a faucet on the back of the building!"
I grab 4 jugs and head that way, and someone grabs the rest following me. As I walk back up behind the bus. I realize the guy in the pick up has vanished! (I guess because he saw me toss the $ on the guys tool box across the street, he figure this way I won't try to force $ on him for helping us!)
Anyway we finish filling it up, and top off my jugs "just in case!" (it holds 55 gallons of coolant!)

Anyway we load up and hall buggy!

Jeannie, Kross, Rhoades & I drop the group (Cross Roads ISL) off in Sikeston, MO and come on home!

Then Monday AM the bus cleaner comes in and says "hey when I start up #747 (the other "new" bus) there is a loud buzzer going off and the dash says shut engine off!"
So I go to the shop with him, and check it. The coolant is low, and as I start adding some it spits buck up some brownish sludge!
I look it over and feel it and the first thing that pops in my mind is oil in the coolant. So at the least I am figuring a blown head gasket @  the  very least!
So I pull the dipstick and check the oil, it's fine! Oh boy, what the heck is going on?
Then I pull the tranny dipstick and it comes out 3 times over full and the same nasty chocolate milk shake stuff as in the coolant  reservoir. Oh great I think, busted tranny!

So a little more checking and it is determined  that it is a blown trans cooler!

So I call Setra, "Sure we got in in stock $4000"

So with the cooler, 2 coolant hoses that  hook to it, and overnight shipping, just under $4,500!

So that is how my week has been so far!
  BK

[John316]

Wheeww, BK. All I can say, is, I am ready for bed after reading that. Sorry for your troubles, buddy. Hope things get better for you soon!!!

God bless,

John

[cody]

Not a good week for sure, hang in there and it'll get better, I think, maybe.  Some of the stuff we talked about on the phone is probably a viable idea, if not at least its a diversion, tell your family happy thanksgiving from us. You know the next call is on you lol.

[Eagle Andy]

Good grief BK I thought I had a bad week . O the joys of ownning your own outfit. It can only get better bud you have had the week from Hell . Best of luck .

[Bestekustoms]

WOW !!!!!!!!!! Dude, Thank God You Kept Your COOL Through All That.

55 Gallons Of Water !!!!  WOW. Had No Idea.

After Reading Your Post I Can Say..."Not Much Happening Here"

Happy Thanks Giving

JOHN

[Van]

What is it with this month and engines goin south, now you too? I feel ya brother, it only makes us tougher

[Fredward]

So now I see why when we pulled up in that eagle; and the ducks swam by; you said "she's sweet just drive it to Minnesota here's some grease for your U Joints.
FRED

[letz4wheel]

I guess there is a reason you all wanted to own a bus company...but I will be darned if I know why lol. Hope it all gets on the right track soon!

[JackConrad]

They say "Stress Builds Character" sooooo, you should be a real character LOL.  Bryce,
sorry to hear of your week from hell, hopefully next week will be better.  Jack

[jackhartjr]

And I was going to post that I broke a toenail this week!

[cody]

Somehow this is grossly inapropriate but now you can sit and tell your grandchildren that you remember pushing your bus to school 6 miles uphill in a blinding snowstorm, both ways.

[Len Silva]

So, would you like to have a regular job, working for someone else?  40 hours a week? guaranteed regular payday?  Yeah, I thought not.

[cody]

I was very impressed with the resourcefulness of BK and his family, a hurdle in the road wasn't something that needed to be jumped over, it also works to calmly walk around it lol.  This isn't a family that is blindly charging forward, bumping into walls and then charging off in a different direction, the goals are clearly established and the vision of what is to be done is understood by everyone involved and from what I've seen they work closely to accomplish those goals.  Too have so many things go wrong in a weeks time is unusual but can be expected by any business from time to time, I'm sure nick can support that statement, as can anyone else in business. (I would have liked to have seen BK's face when Jeff called about backing into the wall lol) to truely appreciate this you have to spend time talking to jeff lol. All businesses have growing pains, just wait until the international operations start and maybe even the overseas division kicking in, then you'll have a whole new set of headaches lol.

[rv_safetyman]

Ok BK you win the battle of "I didn't have the best week of my life" .  I thought I was having a tough week getting my arms around refitting the Series 60 engine and getting it ready to install.  My week pales in comparison to yours.

And I really feel bad about giving you a hard time on the other thread (NOT ).

In all seriousness, I hope you don't have any more weeks like this one.  Given the thread about health(http://www.busconversions.com/bbs/index.php?topic=14066.0), I hope you are checking your blood pressure during these times of stress.  That thread was a real eye opener!

Jim

[belfert]

I had my own business.  I sold it 9 years ago and now have a 40 hour a week job.  I work 20 to 40 hours a week less now with a real job and get paid more than I ever was owning my own business.

When you own certain types of businesses you end up being on-call 24x7 just like Bryce is in the bus business.  A broekn down bus full of passengers isn't going to wait until morning.