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PREVOST BUS BURNS
Another Prevost has burned as the result of a blowout. It was one of Miley cyrus’s tour buses between New Orleans and Houston.
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35 Replies
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Anybody around her is likely to burst into flames at any moment.
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“Another Prevost has burned as the result of a blowout. It was one of Miley cyrus’s tour buses between New Orleans and Houston.”
Please explain how that happens. Thanks!
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My theory only.
No tire monitor on board or the driver wasn’t paying attention.
Driver ran it down until it was hot enough to start on fire, and puff, it’s to late. Driver couldn’t find the fire ext quick enough, maybe.
Everybody inside smelled something funny and thought it was the new bag of ganji.
Later
bv
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I cringe every time I read something like this.
Problem is the “blow out” could have started as leaking wheel seal, catastrophic brake chamber failure, air system failure of some kind, other brake problems or probably a few other things I am overlooking. Or it could have simply been a tire failure. I assume this bus was well maintained so it says to me that I need to be constantly aware of what is going on while I am driving.
Davy
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A low pressure tire generates a lot of heat due to flexing in the sidewalls. When it fails and the driver keeps going eventually the heat reaches the point where a fire starts. But there are a lot of other things that can create a fire that it is hard to say why the bus had one.
As Davy points out it could be brake or bearing related. A dragging brake gets stuff hot in a hurry. As an example if we pretend a tag axle has a diaphragm failure on the parking brake the spring is going to apply the brake. The driver can be unaware if he is not paying attention to his air gauges and if there is a lot of noise in the coach such as someone playing the Lennon Sisters music at high volume.
As the brake drags the disc gets hot. Real hot. The hub seal fails and now gear lube oil is in contact with a red hot surface and starts burning, eventually setting the tire or wheel well on fire. It doesn’t take a great distance for this to happen.
A failed inner drive axle tire is not visible to the driver, and from experience I know that at highway speeds you cannot see or smell when something in the rear of the coach is burning.
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About a month ago down here outside of La Grange Tx. a truck caught fire from brake drag and a local passing firefighter stopped to help driver. Back tires a flaming. Used fire extinguisher up, asked what was inside van. Coors beer. Opened doors and driver feed him 16 oz. beer and guy shook beer and sprayed fire until department arrived. Now if that would have been Budweiser, it would have been a travesty. This not an Oilfield Tale!
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I know I had an inside drive axle tire valve stem start to leak on me just recently. I checked the pressure at the start of a trip home, it was a little low, filled it up and went on my way. The tire was 100% deflated when I got home and I didnt notice till I went to go out again. Tire had no pressure at all and when I went to fill it, wouldnt take any air. Was thinking it was a tear or something as it wasnt a puncture (they generally hold some air and you can hear the leak).
Thinking I was going to need a new tire, had a service company meet me and pulled the tire. Checked and no tear, rip, puncture. Filled it up (set the bead) and checked for leaks on the bead. None, then checked the valve stem seal and sure enough. Replaced that and was good to go. But who knows how long it was leaking on that trip home and how low it had gotten?
I will be buying a TPMS system for the coach (and one that allows the ability to monitor a trailer with different pressure warnings) in the next few months. THat would have at least warned me that I had a low pressure situation and possible risk of danger. Without that I only knew about it on my next pre-trip inspection (which is a good reason to do one, no matter how short your trip will be).
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Charles call Tom here on forum he sells the best tire pressure monitors I have them on my bus and trailer they are great
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Second that. I have the Pressure Pro system from Tom and really like it.
Will monitor all the tires you can afford to have, 8, 12, ….32 tires I think is the max.
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Charles. Take the tire off and throw it away.
Don’t go anywhere until you have done so. Every manufacturer is in lock step in saying if you have run a tire at 20% less than the required pressure it is damaged beyond repair. When it fails it will be a sudden and catastrophic zipper failure and the damage a failed inside driver axle tire can do is extensive.
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Ditto, the tire is junk Charles.
Call me when your ready for Pressure Pro.
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Tom, how much is an 8 tire system and can you bring one to Tampa ?
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The tire next to it is prpobably junk too from carrying the weight of both tires
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My friend Chuck races in the Trans Am series out of Rockford, Ill. He uses his own 30’/32′ enclosed trailer. Last year was pulling it with another friend’s Freightliner Class 8 toterhome. Lost a tire, didn’t feel it. Lost the second one, by the time they were alerted to the problem this is all they were looking at!
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“The tire next to it is prpobably junk too from carrying the weight of both tires”
Excellent observation. If the faulty tire had very low pressure then the pressure in the remaining tire would have been too low for the weight and the probability is that tire is in imminent danger of failing. Members have shared some stories about what happens when these tires fail and the cost of the tire is fairly inexpensive compared to the cost of a road replacement of the tire, plus the likely repairs to the coach as a result of a failure while driving. The damages range from some body damage, to destroyed mufflers, air bags, and wheel well damage which if extensive does interior damage.
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