Power Steering Repair

On the School Bus Mechanic Blog, John takes a look at a Haldex Two Stage Power Steering Pump from a 1998 Pusher School Buses. Take a look and let us know what you think. Document your on repairs and discoveries to share on this blog and email Ryan@stnonline.com

Thomas Moving Towards an All-Electric?

Daimler AG, the parent company of Thomas Built Buses, has purchased a 10 percent stake in electric vehicle company Tesla Motors, according to a press release. The companies said they will cooperate on battery drive systems, electric drive systems and vehicle projects. Could this put Thomas closer to an all-electric school bus? Representatives from from Thomas weren't immediately available to answer. But for prognosticators and green bus enthusiasts there's some exciting potential.

Thomas is already working on a hybrid Saf-T-Liner C2. According to the release, Daimler and Tesla were also working together to integrate Tesla's lithium-ion battery packs and chargers into Daimler's electric smart car. The release goes on to note that Daimler just founded the Deutsche Accumotive GmbH, a joint venture with Evonik Industries AG, which makes the company "the first vehicle manufacturer worldwide that develops, produces and markets batteries for automotive applications.

Could a new all electric bus be far off?

The Bracket

The NAPT has launched a blog for its America's Best Tech Inspect competition. Check out the site to see the latest results from the regional competitions. Online now: links to stories about winners in Texas, Georgia, Iowa and more.

About that Hydrogen Powered School Bus II ...

The U.S. Department of Energy will drop its research into hydrogen powered cars, the New York Times reports. Discussing the Department of Energy's budget, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said DOE will focus on small labs, a power plant that would turn coal into gas and separate out carbon dioxide and other projects [more details as we sift through the budget]. The New York Times notes:

The retreat from cars powered by fuel cells counters Mr. Bush’s prediction in 2003 that “the first car driven by a child born today could be powered by hydrogen, and pollution-free.” The Energy Department will continue to pay for research into stationary fuel cells, which Dr. Chu said could be used like batteries on the power grid and do not require compact storage of hydrogen.

Earlier this year, the Department of Energy specifically said hydrogen powered school buses did not have a viable future.

Given these issues [public health and fuel economy], school bus operators are increasingly receptive to new technologies, but their willingness to demonstrate and deploy advanced technologies and alternative fuels must be balanced with strict financial and operational considerations

Also online, John Whelan shows how to replace power steering hoses on a pusher school bus.

Goodbye Prius, Hello Volt

Newsweek has a story that's worth reading on why first-generation, Prius-style hybrids may be the first victims of a shift to plug-in hybrids. Why dump these relatively new cars? Because the market will need to make room for their much more efficient younger brothers and sisters. Of course, Prius maker Toyota disagrees:

"The fact that the Prius has been around for 10 years does not mean it is old news or obsolete. In fact, it keeps getting better and better," says John Hanson, a company spokesman ... Hanson says Toyota is doing research on lithium-ion batteries, and plans a plug-in hybrid prototype for next year. But he insists that for now its tried-and-true batteries are best, and that lithium ion isn't ready for prime time. "Battery science is not where it needs to be," he says.

Recently, we've seen a bit of news on the hybrid in the school bus industry. Next generation buses may be far from some district's economic reach now, but with more hybrids coming to market, the school bus industry will soon have its own similar questions to answer.

What to do when diesel engine cranks but does not start

This week, John Whelan posts on what to do when your bus cranks, but does not start.

...the first thing you want to look at is the power feed to the engine controls. In this case it's a Mercedes mbe 900 diesel engine in a Thomas C2 school bus. The first check is the fuse block since this powers up the ignition relays that operate the engine control modules.

Follow the link for a full description and photos. As always, thanks, John.

Generational Digital Divide in Your Garage?

Talk about the Digital Divide between those with access to information technology and those without it is well over a decade old. But what about the divide between how the older and younger technicians and mechanics look at technology? As Bill Siru discussed in March, there is only going to be more technology and it's going to require more training.

Education Week points to an interesting survey on the differences between how Boomers (ages 44-60), Generation X (ages 29-43) and Generation Y (ages 28 and younger) use technology. One interesting question for this blog is about the blogging. Only 28 percent of Boomers think it's acceptable to blog about work-related issues while 40 percent of Gen Y workers do. Even more striking, 62 percent of Gen Y access a social network (LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, etc) from work, but only 14 percent of Boomers do.

All of those in the survey were in white collar jobs and most of the technologies were PDAs, social networking, email, etc., but the survey could pose some interesting questions for those in the school bus maintenance and heavy-duty diesel repair industries:

• Are older employees reluctant to use laptops, PDAs and other digital diagnostic tools or are they eager to learn?
• Are younger employees more inclined to use the Web, email, social networks, this site etc. to solve difficult problems in the garage or find out about new technologies?
  
• Are younger employees more interested in learning about alt-fuel technologies (i.e. CNG, Propane, Hybrid-Electric, Electric, Hydrogen)?
• If your younger employees are coming in with knowledge of "new" technologies (Web, laptop, digital diagnostics, alt-fuels, etc), how are you reaching out to your older employees?
• Do you have a clear and up-to-date policy about what technologies (cell phones, email, social networks, etc) are acceptable at work?