The best “Cheap” Diesel mechanic is YOU
Gary is one of busdom’s innovators and supreme tinkerers. Well I suppose we all are, but he is one of our prime examples. One of his recent posts I thought said a lot about the process:
The best “Cheap” diesel mechanic will turn out to be yourself…
At least for me, a big part of buying a bus and converting it is in gaining understanding of how every little piece of it works, and becoming familiar with every little doodah on a firsthand basis. Unless you’re rich, buying a bus and sticking in some nice woodwork, and calling it done, is probably a quick road to disaster and roadside emergencies.
Take the time to clean your engine, restart it and find leaks, then fix it yourself. You’ll get lots of help from the guys here, as we all have been there. Then you’ll have learned a bit more about your engine and it won’t be as scary the next time.
Buy some manuals for your engine. Study them. Find out what all the parts that you see stuck to it do, Follow the hoses, identify them and learn what they’re for, and how/when/why to replace them. Ask questions on the bus boards.
Eventually you’ll have a better feel for things about your engine and how to repair many of them without having to resort to calling mechanics and having your bus towed. Hee hee, that said from someone who has loads of mechanical skills, but has now experienced blown engines on three busses and had to have the last one towed… you can know what you know but Murphy, it seems, often has better ideas…
