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busman2014
New Member
8 Posts |
 Posted - 08/08/2018 : 06:19:09 AM
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| Just curious if anyone knows of a district who has taken delivery of a new IC gas engine bus yet? I know some have gotten to see one and test drive it, but if anyone has purchased some and had some actual seat time yet? Just trying to weigh all our options before making a purchase this fall. Thanks in advance. |
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jeeptjken
Senior Member
147 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2018 : 11:05:43 AM
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| Just took delivery on 5 this week sent one out on a trip today |
How did you get the gosinta in the whatchamacallit |
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busman2014
New Member
8 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2018 : 2:17:01 PM
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| cool deal, let us know how it does when you have time. interested to see how it does on fuel mileage and power. Thanks. |
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aaronwilmoth80911
Top Member
538 Posts |
Posted - 08/09/2018 : 05:20:06 AM
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| We are scheduled to get some in the upcoming months. I'm looking forward to seeing how well they do. I will post what we are seeing with them. |
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bwest
Administrator
United States
3820 Posts |
Posted - 08/09/2018 : 05:41:42 AM
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| I too would be interested. Personally, I don't understand the move to gasoline when there's such a good alternative option like propane. But, I guess time will tell. @jeeptjken & @aaronwilmoth809111, are these on lease or are you planning to keep these long term? |
Bryan |
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aaronwilmoth80911
Top Member
538 Posts |
Posted - 08/09/2018 : 1:28:37 PM
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| We plan on keeping them long term |
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jeeptjken
Senior Member
147 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2018 : 09:34:18 AM
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ours will be long term as we bought them we have 2 propane units as well but went this route due to a few issues with the propane 1 being fuel pumps at 92,000 miles to the tune of 2800 bucks and a radiator at 800 bucks we know fuel pumps fail but on a gas unit its an easy job and no need to purge the tank we will never go back to diesel its just to costly to maintain
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How did you get the gosinta in the whatchamacallit |
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aaronwilmoth80911
Top Member
538 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2018 : 10:05:01 AM
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| @jeeptjken, that's why we decided to go with some gassers right now. We have 2 Blue Birds with the V10 that do ok, I'm just not a huge fan of Blue Birds. The things we looked at on making our decision are that we can keep the Allison transmission, our IC dealer is about 20 minutes away, cost of maintenance, and downtime for emission related issues with the diesels. Even if things are under warranty, time is money and downtime is lost productivity and it's quite a nuisance dealing with so many issues on brand new buses. |
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bwest
Administrator
United States
3820 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2018 : 11:58:55 AM
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| I respect those issues guys. It doesn't cost nearly 2,800 for a fuel pump here though. What issues are you seeing with blue bird that you don't see with the other brands? Just curious. Seems to me that all three companies have issues (some are the same. i.e. windows (ugh)) |
Bryan |
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black
Active Member
USA
49 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2018 : 06:13:14 AM
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We have been running Bird propane's since 2014 and Bird gasoline engines since October of 2017.
The propane buses had some engine recall issues last summer but nothing major. The gasoline engines have not had a single issue related to the Ford engines or transmissions to date. The newer diesel buses we have seem to have an engine emissions issue almost daily! In our fleet fuel mileage seems to be averaging about 4.5 mpg on propane, 6.5 mpg on gasoline and about 7.5 mpg on the diesels. The DEF on diesel engines works out to about $0.03 per mile cost. When we calculate the fuel costs and maintenance cost, the (Return on Investment) is propane 1st with the Fed rebate, gasoline 2nd and diesel a distant 3rd. If we were to lose the government rebate it would be close but gasoline might win out because of the initial bus acquisition cost. Any way this is our experience with Blue Bird buses but would like to know what other brands are doing as well. |
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RonF
Top Member
867 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2018 : 06:39:56 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by black
We have been running Bird propane's since 2014 and Bird gasoline engines since October of 2017.
The propane buses had some engine recall issues last summer but nothing major. The gasoline engines have not had a single issue related to the Ford engines or transmissions to date. The newer diesel buses we have seem to have an engine emissions issue almost daily! In our fleet fuel mileage seems to be averaging about 4.5 mpg on propane, 6.5 mpg on gasoline and about 7.5 mpg on the diesels. The DEF on diesel engines works out to about $0.03 per mile cost. When we calculate the fuel costs and maintenance cost, the (Return on Investment) is propane 1st with the Fed rebate, gasoline 2nd and diesel a distant 3rd. If we were to lose the government rebate it would be close but gasoline might win out because of the initial bus acquisition cost. Any way this is our experience with Blue Bird buses but would like to know what other brands are doing as well.
These number are about the same I see on my Blue birds. I don't have propane but we have just switch our fleet to gas last year. We are seeing 8.The low cost of the routine maintenance on the gas vs diesel just makes sense. I run FleetVison so I have every cost factored into the bus. |
US Army retired CMBT |
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jeeptjken
Senior Member
147 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2018 : 11:25:55 AM
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| while the pumps themselves run 950.00 then add the new hose kit that goes inside the tank add the control valve that always crodes here in the rust belt add the cost of the lost propane during purge the cost so repurge after reassembly and your at 2800.00 plus labor |
How did you get the gosinta in the whatchamacallit |
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flint1
Senior Member
Canada
74 Posts |
Posted - 09/12/2018 : 04:25:39 AM
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| Good morning, Any update on how the IC gassers ard doing? Especially mileage wise? |
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muddywater
Senior Member
USA
50 Posts |
Posted - 09/13/2018 : 08:52:27 AM
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| We can not comment on the new IC's gasser's yet. We order one 10 months ago for a June delivery, now there telling us it will be at least a month from now before we see it. We are told that it is an engine supply issue. Maybe, the district's that are ordering a large number of these are getting preference compared to the small districts that just order one or two. |
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RonF
Top Member
867 Posts |
Posted - 09/13/2018 : 10:16:16 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by muddywater
We can not comment on the new IC's gasser's yet. We order one 10 months ago for a June delivery, now there telling us it will be at least a month from now before we see it. We are told that it is an engine supply issue. Maybe, the district's that are ordering a large number of these are getting preference compared to the small districts that just order one or two.
Hmmm.. Sounds like a typical IC issue with engines. |
US Army retired CMBT |
Edited by - RonF on 09/13/2018 10:16:45 AM |
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bwest
Administrator
United States
3820 Posts |
Posted - 09/13/2018 : 10:16:30 AM
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Bryan |
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IC gassers
