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Re: Re: LA Surprise - Need Help

What gardner engine does it have? Are you 100% sure?

Re: Re: Re: LA Surprise - Need Help

LA 13 Has a Gardner Engine I am certain on that when I lived in East Cork that was my regular School Bus and always wondered why it didnt sound like the Other LA Which would replace 13 Occasionally.

LA Surprise - Need Help

To be honess we have not started it recently but it has a Gardner Plate on top of the engine and I do not think very many 680 engines have Gardner Plates!

What is surprising if true is that it would be one of the only Gardners probably to ever operate from Cork and I just cannot imagine running an orphan.

When the weather improves we will take her for a drive and the noise will settle the issue, not to mention the smoke!

It certainly is unusual.

Michael Grimes

Re: LA Surprise - Need Help

Ah, the penny now drops.!!!!!!!! Michael, if you look on the top of the engine of Leopard CSF158W it also should have a Gardner plate on top of the engine but it is actually a 680 engine.

What you will find is that Gardner Refurbished/Overhauled/Reconditioned qite a few Leyland engines in their time (In particular, the 680's). Those so treated usually have a Garder plaque fixed to the top of the block and usually state a date, which is the date of Refurb/Recon/Overhaul by Gardner.

Our RSC190Y, which is also a 680 engined Leopard, also has been similarly treated by Gardner and also has a badge.

Re: Re: LA Surprise - Need Help

i am open to crooection but i dont think gardner refurbished any engines for ulsterbus sure ulsterbus do there own in Duncrue street as i said i am open to correction

Re: Re: Re: LA Surprise - Need Help

If you want to be sure what type of engine is in that LA, here's how to know if it ACTUALLY has a Gardner engine in it, or if it just has a Gardner plate...

- The Gardner 6HLXB as fitted to an RE has the fuel pump on the TOP of the engine, and has a dirty big "GARDNER" logo imprinted on the cam-box, also on the fuel pump heads it has the gardner logo... Leylands usually had "LML" stamped on the block or the pump...

- The Gardner has a signifigantly bigger fuel pump than a Leyland O.680, and the O.680 pump should be mounted on the NEARSIDE

- To say that because of the sound it makes tells you what type/make of engine is in a machine doesnt always work... I have heard O.680's that growl and howl like **** (M45), yet have heard others that are as quiet you wouldnt even think that they running (M207)...

It is VERY strange though that Gardner would have reconditioned a Leyland engine... I would have thought this would have been done in-house or somewhere locally... to send an engine back to Gardner in the UK would have been alot of hassle when the same job could have been done here...

Anyway... I am open to correction as well...

Re: Re: Re: Re: LA Surprise - Need Help

sure if they where going to send a engine back anywhere they wud have sent it back to leyland

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: LA Surprise - Need Help

Possibly because Leyland ceased to exist when taken over by Volvo in the early 1990's, therefor it would be Volvo that would have to refurb any engines.

The Gardner plates on the 680 engines in CSF158W & RSC190Y give refurb dates of 1996 & 1997 respectively

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: LA Surprise - Need Help

Well in 1996/97 Ulsterbus would def not be sending engines away to be refurbished sure they can do that in house and have done for years in Duncrue Street workshops they only thing unless Bus Eireann had these engines around and put them in the leopards if the orignal engine blew up or something

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: LA Surprise - Need Help

Ulsterbus wouldn't have sent engines away for rebuilding. All work was down done in house by the engine squad down at the factory. But a plausable excuse for this plate is either Bus Eireann sending the engine away for recon OR Bus Eireann putting in an already Recon engine into the LA. I know Ulsterbus / Citybus have an 'Engine Pool' of recon engines ready to be put into buses at short notice. So Bus Eireann probably have the same but one or more of these recons may have been done by Gardener.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: LA Surprise - Need Help

Got a chance to check the errant engine with Michael when i was over and low and behold the engine is defo a Leyland 680. The plate is what i had suspected and have seen before in that the plate stated that the engine was remanufacturered by Gardner and gave a date of 1997.

The plate was also checked with CSF158W, which has an identical plate on it's block and both were identical, but with different dates off course.