Caring for the Diesel Engines in Your School Bus Fleet

With budgets that seem to be contracting further with each fiscal year, school districts are looking to save money in every way they can. One method of reducing expenditures is to adhere to a strict regimen of care and maintenance for the diesel engine on the school buses in your fleet. Considering that poor maintenance and shoddy operation can result in diesel engine replacements that can rival the expense of buying a used school bus, taking care of these engines makes sense.

• Change the fuel filters – Fuel filters are often taken for granted and overlooked in the maintenance schedule for diesel engines but letting these filters get clogged can lead to expensive consequences such as the damage of injectors and injection pumps
• Change out air filters – Keeping air filters around until they get clogged hurts mileage and makes the turbo work harder to deliver air to the engine.
• Changing fluids – Fluids that should be changed regularly include engine oil, coolant, transmission fluid, and power steering fluid. 
• Warm the engine before heading out on the route – Engine parts warm up at their own pace, so have drivers warm the engines to allow oil to thin and lubricate the turbo and rest of the machinery properly.
• Pay attention to smoke coming from the engine – Black, white and blue smoke signify different issues with a diesel engine. 

While a little smoke is normal in the cold, if smoke continues to be emitted when the engine is warm the bus should be taken in for service.

Proper maintenance of your school bus fleet can keep it running without incurring unnecessary repairs. Additionally, your school buses with run cleaner and more efficiently.

Retro-fitting Diesel Engines versus Switching to Natural Gas Powered School Buses

As government agencies across the country tighten the emission levels on aged school buses, many school districts are being faced with a decision to either retro-fit the diesel engines on their fleet or replace them with engines that are powered by natural gas or compressed natural gas (CNG). One example of the upcoming regulations on emissions is the requirement by California Air Resources Board which mandates that school districts add emission controls such as filters to older diesel powered school buses by the year 2018 to reduce the emission of soot and other pollutants. Buses that aren’t retro-fitted by that time must be removed from service.

Retro-fitting older school buses is a far less expensive proposal than buying new ones and can reduce emissions substantially, but there are arguments against these types of emission controls as well. The arguments against retro-fitting include additional maintenance expenses and the fact that, even with drastic reductions in emissions, schoolchildren are still breathing a cocktail of soot and pollutants when they ride on older school buses. Further arguments against retro-fitting are that 1980’s era school buses are so dirty that filters would have to be replaced so often that school buses would be in the garage more than they would be on the road.

The other option for school districts is to replace old diesel engines with natural gas or CNG powered engines that will likely cost more initially but provide savings over time with lower fuel costs (when measured by present day prices) as well as less frequent and less expensive maintenance requirements than retro-fitted engines. The other big advantage of these replacement fuels is that children would travel in a much healthier environment, which is hard to put a price on.