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Hey people.... I'm lookin' for someone who can answer specific engine questions about used school buses. I have heard that, for one thing, the speedometers on many models have the tendency to break. I need to know if there is another speedometer,like in the engine..or a way to check the mileage at any given date. I've been going to auctions and almost bought buses,but not yet...Don't want to waste my moolah on a peice of junk..Any mechanics out there..info would be appreciated. Also which is better on mileage...(gas or deise?)...thanksalot... stevie...
If you go to an auction you will probably pay much less for your bus but you won't know if the milage is correct, you probably won't be able to drive it, and many times unless you bring your own batteries you won't even be able to start it. As far as gas vs. deisel, deisel buses usually about 7-10 mpg. Gas will probablly be more like 2-3 mpg.
As far as mileage goes on school buses, as a general rule of thumb, most school buses are driven 9-18K per year. Some a lot more and some a lot less.
One year the route I drove averaged right at 200 miles per day. Another year the route I drove averaged right at about 30 miles per day. Most school bus routes go between 50 and 100 miles per day.
In most school districts, as the buses age, they are moved from the high mileage routes to the low mileage routes. This is done so that when the buses are sold all the buses usually have pretty much the same number of miles.
So do the math yourself if you don't trust the odometer.
Some, not all, buses have HOBBS engine hour meters. A HOBBS can give you the number of hours the engine has run but in all likelihood it will give you a skewed idea of how far the bus has been driven.
Most school buses spend the majority of their life going down the road at less than 35 MPH. They also spend a very large percentage of their life idling as they warm up, load up, or unload. One bus I drove I divided the hours into the mileage and figured that bus had averaged 12.5 MPH over the life of that bus.
If you are looking at a used school bus that is 10 years old and the odometer says it has gone 100-150K miles, I think you can guess the odometer is not lying.
I just bought a school bus 1989 for $1,300 that had just gone thru complete maintenance then the school corp decided to get a new one instead. the bus is in very nice shape, I just removed the seats yesterday and am trying to decide what to do next. Jerry
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