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sbfreader
Senior Member
153 Posts |
 Posted - 01/14/2009 : 07:13:28 AM
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Do any of you mechanics have a good feel for how many engine hours per year your buses run? Obviously, idling has an impact and I was curious as to how your per year miles driven compare to per year engine hours.
TIA |
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Mechan1c
Top Member
USA
853 Posts |
Posted - 01/14/2009 : 10:15:21 AM
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| 16-22 MPH in our fleet. Suburban mixed use A, C, and D buses. |
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sbfreader
Senior Member
153 Posts |
Posted - 01/14/2009 : 10:58:59 AM
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So to calculate the per bus engine hours, I would need how many total miles driven per year, correct?
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Mechan1c
Top Member
USA
853 Posts |
Posted - 01/14/2009 : 3:42:09 PM
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| Shops usually calculate this ratio using the hourmeter and odometer in pre-electronic vehicles. The more modern buses have this data right at the dashboard. |
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Mechan1c
Top Member
USA
853 Posts |
Posted - 01/14/2009 : 3:46:42 PM
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| So in a given period of time, say a month, note how many miles you go as well as the hours and divide. Hourmeter is usually on the tach and the odometer on the speedo. On a newer bus these numbers are usually accessed by pushing the little button on the dash that shows trip miles/miles. Hope that helps... |
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sbfreader
Senior Member
153 Posts |
Posted - 01/14/2009 : 5:58:34 PM
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I may have not explained myself very well. I understand the 16 - 22 mph calculation. I am interested in getting what the Hourmeter reads on a monthly basis. Is it 100hours, 500 hours, etc. in one month?
Sorry for the confusion. |
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bwest
Administrator
United States
3820 Posts |
Posted - 01/15/2009 : 05:02:17 AM
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| I'm confused too I guess. 16-22 MPH is average per hr. of engine operation, right? Then if you want to find the total hours you would divide total miles by the 16-22. Only, your average might be differnet than that. So I would say if you don't have an hour meter you would be guessing at best. Why do you want the engine hours anyway? |
Bryan |
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sbfreader
Senior Member
153 Posts |
Posted - 01/15/2009 : 05:22:41 AM
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I'm trying to determine how the odometer and the hourmeter relate on a school bus vs. other vehicles. I want to see how idling impacts that relationship.
The readings I am trying to get are:
Over 1 month of use, the bus odometer reads X and the hourmeter reads Y.
In 12 months, if the bus odometer reads 15,000 miles what does the hourmeter read.
I could back into the number with the 16-22 mph figure from above if I had the total miles driven to do the calculation.
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78fordwayne
Top Member
USA
2868 Posts |
Posted - 01/15/2009 : 1:40:54 PM
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| What is considered high engine hours on say like a T444E? Most of ours have about 10,000 hours on them |
Robert B.
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sbfreader
Senior Member
153 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2009 : 05:13:41 AM
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| How many odometer miles are on the vehicles and how old are they? |
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bwest
Administrator
United States
3820 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2009 : 07:26:29 AM
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| Wow, 10,000 hours! I'm in an ag region and farmed myself growing up. 10'000 hours on a tractor is a lot of engine hours. I think on ag machines they recomend changing the bearings at 5000-6000 hours. Might be different on the newer ones but that was the case with the machines that were made in the 80s and 90s. |
Bryan |
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78fordwayne
Top Member
USA
2868 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2009 : 08:57:16 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by sbfreader
How many odometer miles are on the vehicles and how old are they?
My bus is a 99 3800 with 154,000 miles.
We have some 2001 with the same 10,000 hours but with 90,000 miles. |
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ModMech
Top Member
USA
948 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2009 : 2:18:50 PM
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We had hour meters in about 30 units from new.
For all of those units, averaged over 10 years of service in various capacities, they averaged 21 Miles traveled per Engine running hour.
We would get about 120,000 miles from an engine (6.9L, 8.2L etc) so close to 5,000 hours of engine life of an abused powerplant.
The later DTs would run well over 200,000 miles before they required an in-frame and I left before collecting good hour data on those with electronic engines (an hourmeters). |
If you want customer service, you NEED an International! |
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IBTMech
Top Member
USA
973 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2009 : 5:02:55 PM
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All of our older DT's, with one exception, have gone 10,000+ hours with nothing more than a valve adjustment and external (fuel pumps, turbos etc.)repairs. I have a '92 4900 with 14,000 hours on it and it still runs great with minimal oil consumption. It is now our 'spare' plow truck although it's getting almost as much use as before. We have a Cat 916 loader w 3204 engine that we have been doing oil analysis on since day one and it's just passing 13,000 hours. It blew a head gasket at 9000 hours and it had a leaking injector at 11,000 hours but it's running fine now.
We use Mobil Delvac 1300 oil. Our oil change intervals are 5000mi on the trucks and buses or 250 hours mobile equipment (loaders, grader, streetsweeper etc.) We bring the trucks and buses in at 2500mi for lube and inspection. Works for us.
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If it doesn't fit, FORCE it.
If it breaks, well, it needed replacing anyway.
Pullin' wrenches for 45 years. |
Edited by - IBTMech on 01/17/2009 05:14:55 AM |
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second.flood
Top Member
USA
640 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2009 : 5:20:30 PM
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| Our whole fleet consists of DT's. Service at 450 hrs., which averages about 6,000 miles for us. |
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JC Theriault
Top Member
Canada
1326 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2009 : 8:26:13 PM
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We leave our coaches and yellow shuttle buses running 24 hours a day at the oilpatch sites in Fort McMurray when in a deep freeze. My coach ran non stop (576 hrs) for my 24 day work cycle before I took it to the barn while on my days off, only 170 hours were spent on the road, the rest was fast idling in the parking lot.
JC |
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flyboy
Senior Member
USA
147 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2009 : 12:29:18 PM
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| We have T444E's with over 8000 hours on them. This varies on a bus by bus basis. We usually have engine failure at 8-9000 hours regardless of mileage. When calculating engine hours you must take idle time into consderation. You can have only 90,000 miles but 9500 hours or more due to extended idle time. |
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bwest
Administrator
United States
3820 Posts |
Posted - 01/27/2009 : 07:26:49 AM
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| Flyboy are you telling us that your T444E are failing with a little more than 100,000 miles? If that is the case I'm not interested in any more IC V8's |
Bryan |
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ModMech
Top Member
USA
948 Posts |
Posted - 01/30/2009 : 3:40:40 PM
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| 8,000 hours at 10 MPH = 80,000 miles, at 20 MPH = 160,000 miles. That's low for a T444E's service life, but overheating is KEY with them. |
If you want customer service, you NEED an International! |
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Topic |
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Question regarding engine hours
