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Diesel automatic busses have a retarder built into the transmission that uses the fluid to hold it back (not like an automatic car gas where you use the engine vacuum to slow down the engine -> torque converter -> trans -> wheels). I could see severely overheated transmissions from always using the retarder.
Maybe it could have been the air brakes too? Air brakes have always been impossible for me to modulate ... and I learned to drive on a peterbuilt 379. Maybe the drivers were wearing out valves, etc with the air brakes always trying to modulate them?
For accellerating I can't see where hard would save on maintenance. That's more wear on engine, transmission, driveshaft and related, rearend and tires. Diesels don't really need to be wound out to the redline to take off (except for the screaming detroit 2 strokes!). Maybe lugging the engines cuased damage or lower RPMs caused high EGT?
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