24 feet motorhome - 55 gl. fuel tank

Always leave enough gas in to run the genny and keep the fuel pump protected.
Should the engine fail you can watch TV or take a nap in the air conditioning while you wait for the wrecker.

Brian

This is a useful link: http://owner.ford.com/your-vehicle.html

Create an account, add a vehicle and plug in the chassis VIN. It will tell you a lot of information about your ford cutaway chassis.

Bobbo wrote:

ECones wrote:
Holy moley! We just took delivery on a 28 footer with the V-10 Ford, and I was hoping to get at least into the double digits for fuel mileage. :W

Nope, 9 miles per gallon is about all you are likely to see.

Dobuou want to say tank in my E450 motorhomreis 36 gl even I saw i on Winnebago website 55 gl.

All V10 powered Class C motorhomes are not the same, i.e.:

- Earlier V10 engines were lower horsepower than later ones. Perhaps the earlier ones are capable of slightly better gas mileage.

- The E350 version is geared taller and may be capable of slightly better gas mileage than the E450 version.

- A smaller (lighter) V10 Class C may be capable of slightly better gas mileage than a larger (heavier) V10 Class C in intensive slow-down/speed-up travel situations where frontal air resistance isn't so dominant a factor.

Average highway travel speed is very important for any Class C's gas mileage, due to the air resistance coming from it's frontal area.

We have, I estimate (we don't track it accurately), achieved around 10 MPG under very special circumstances with our E450 V10. Our Class C is a short one, no slides, I cruise between 55-58 MPH most of the time, and I have larger diameter tires on it that make all gears taller (and closer to E350 ratios) ... including making it's over-drive gearing ratio taller than what you get with stock tires.

I do not have solar panels on the roof. Roof solar panels increase air resistance slightly. However, I do have vent covers over it's two vents. Vent covers increase air resistance slightly.

As a side note, the later Ford V10 E350's and E450's have the 5-speed (6 speeds internal) TorqShift transmission in them. This transmission has a Tow/Haul mode. I've never seen a careful comparison of the gas mileage difference (if any) between leaving this transmission in one or the other of the two modes. Since a Class C motorhome is hauling it's weight all the time (unlike a delivery truck), leaving the TorqShift transmission it in the Tow/Haul mode all the time could conceivably provide slightly better gas mileage ... since in this mode transmission slippage during acceleration and uphill pulling is probably reduced. Transmission slippage wastes gas.

Bobbo wrote:

ECones wrote:
Holy moley! We just took delivery on a 28 footer with the V-10 Ford, and I was hoping to get at least into the double digits for fuel mileage. :W

Nope, 9 miles per gallon is about all you are likely to see.

That's what I got with my 1/2 ton Tundra pulling our 24' TT. But it had half the tank, so I guess that's at least an improvement on range.

ECones wrote:
Holy moley! We just took delivery on a 28 footer with the V-10 Ford, and I was hoping to get at least into the double digits for fuel mileage. :W

Nope, 9 miles per gallon is about all you are likely to see.

I'm sure happy that Ford switched to a 55 gallon tank years ago!

We often travel with friends who have a motorhome older than ours but the same size. There's is a 24 foot E350 Class C with the Ford 460 engine. Ours is a 24 foot E450 Class C with the V10 engine. The 460 has only a 36 gallon tank and it seems like we're stopping "all the time" for them to fuel up ... when our tank is still showing more than half full. They have to be real careful when traveling the long distances out West to make sure that they don't get caught out in the middle of nowhere wanting to camp and maybe also use their built-in generator for air conditioning at the campsite. To make matters worse, I think the old 460 gets even worse gas mileage than a V10.

We hate fuel stops ... real rest stops at places other than on gas station concrete we welcome, however. I wish we had an even larger tank than 55 gallons, as I'd actually prefer at least a 750 mile range for our small motorhome. (Chevy was really on the ball by putting a 57 gallon tank in their cutaway van chassis models used for motorhomes - every gallon helps.)

By the way, being sure to actually fill up our E450's 55 gallon tank takes some effort. Automatic gas pumps stop filling our tank when it still can take around 5 gallons more. I have to trickle-fill at the gas pump for about 10 more minutes to get the last 5 gallons into the tank. Doing this, the gas gauge indicates "full" for around 50 more miles of travel - which translates into more time between gas stops.

I wonder how many 55 gallon tank Ford owners don't realize that they're probably carrying around only 50 gallons after they think that they've "filled up" their 55 gallon tank?

No the light will go on at over 400 miles driven, since it is hard to know how far you can drive before it is totally dry, from a full tank down to the 1/4 mark is about 350 miles, at that point a rest is welcome by all aboard.

At 55 mph and accounting for terrain and wind, a Ford V-10 will be about 9 miles to the gallon, that is what I use to calculate refueling stops, in mountain terrain the consumption of fuel is higher.

navegator

350 before light goes on?

mgirardo wrote:
I've never let the tank get that low in the MH. Considering it averages 8 mpg, leaving only a few gallons in the tank doesn't leave many options at all. I usually fill up when the needle gets to about a 1/4 tank.

I like the be prepared and fill up at half a tank idea, but with a 8 mpg vehicle, that means I'm stopping every 2.5 hours to fill up. Anything less than 4 hours between fill-ups is too soon to stop for me. On the East Coast, there's practically a gas station at every interstate highway, so we're never really far from a fill up.

-Michael

Holy moley! We just took delivery on a 28 footer with the V-10 Ford, and I was hoping to get at least into the double digits for fuel mileage. :W

In addition to what Michael said, I'd fear that running it to the point that I really need to stop soon would put me in the position of stopping where I really don't want to. I'd rather make a few more stops at convenient locations. For instance, I'd stop before entering a busy city rather than risk having to fight heavy traffic for fuel.