On Tue, 29 May 2012 23:45:59 -0700, "Lew Hodgett"
wrote:


wrote:

Waterloo regional transit had a fleet of natural gas busses, and the
maintenance costs totally killed the project.

The converted diesel engines were failing at a very high rate. Don't
know if it ws due to lubrication issues, valve issues, or what - but
the engines were apparently good for about 1/4 the normal life of a
diesel. The cyl heads are heavily modified and they need spark
ignition - all of which could have been involved in the failures.
And
the intitial conversion price is gawdawfull too!!!
---------------------------------
Can't imagine how a natural gas conversion from diesel could be cost
effective.

L/A chose a different approach.

When it came time to rebuild and/or retire a diesel, it was replaced
with a natural gas engine.

Just one of the reasons it took over 10 years to accomplish.


Lew


These "natural gas engines" are factory converted diesels. Exactly
what RoW had. These were NOT field conversions. They were built by
Cummins.

RoW bought 23 busses in 1996 from New Flyer Industries (same supplier
as their diesel busses)
20% more on-road breakdowns, 25% more reported defects, 50% higher
maintenance costs,

Normal replacement cycle is 18 years - after 12 years they HAD to be
replaced.