"5 star tuner" on a V-10?

Have run the 5 Star tune in our 09 Sunseeker for a year now. Prior to that, we did 2 years with stock tuning. Our travels on the interstate hwys are now much more relaxing staying in cruise
and not having to jockey the gas pedal all day. We run about 9M miles a year, what a difference. Call Mike a 5 Star, he'll answer all your questions.

The bulk of the various V10 after market add-ons seem to be trying to get the V10 to "pull harder" at low(er) RPMs ... kindof contrary to it's design.

At 305 HP, the later two-valve V10s in the Ford cutaway van chassis have plenty of horsepower. You're supposed to use it's high RPM capability to tap this horsepower - that's it's design. The old V8 folks (used to be me, too) seem to think that if the engine has to rev above around 4000 RPM (especially in a truck), something must be "wrong" and therefore must be correctable.

We run our motorhome's V10 all the time, when the HP is required, at 4000-5000 RPM to pull long sustained grades, at speed, at high altitudes. It does just fine and keeps right up with good old rumbling V8's and diesels. We got used to it and now trust it completely to hold together and do it's thing as designed.

As a bonus, the V10 sure does idle right down there whisper quiet and smooth as silk for occasional battery charging, quick coach cooling, or quick coach heating. We can't tell it's idling from inside the RV. There is very little exhaust smell when it's doing this, too.

The friends we RV with have a Ford 460 in their Class C and they do not idle it much - it idles with a rumbling sound, introduces some chassis vibration, makes strange belt pulley sounds, and seems like it's really sucking gas. Our friends do keep their 460 in top tune, too, all the time. Maybe not typical, but somewhat like all past V8 trucks I've owned.

The V10 is a non-typical truck gas engine and takes getting used to.

I have not done the 5 Star tune yet.
I have read a large number of posts where people had the
same experience as Hank85713 above. ALL positive.

It is on my list to do.
Medical issues come first.

It has always been my experience that the factory sets
everything up as a compromise. They try to meet EPA and
then the customer's basic demands. Not all customers drive the
same unit that is built on the stripped chassis.

That V10 chassis may have a 23 ft Motor Home on it or a 35 ft one.
The owner may use in in only flat areas or may like the mountains.
Some may drive at sea-level and others several thousand feet above frequently.
No one tune meets all situations.

I am not a super tuner by any means, but I have never bought any vehicle,
in my 67 years, that I could not improve performance over the factory.
Now I am not talking about a complete rebuild to accomplish that either.

With today's computer controlled everything it is getting more difficult.
The Ford forums that I have read all praise 5-Star, as well as other RV users.

Yes I have one on my 2012 winnebago. It is actually a 2011 engine setup. I bought the rig and was dismally unsatisfied with its overall performance. If you like down shift with 4500-5000 rpms just to keep going then you dont need one. The 5star actually civilized the engine to make it enjoyable to drive. Gives a little better throttle control and actually seems to have help improve milage. Nothing the rave about abut seems to have helped .5 to 1 mpg depending on terrain. We put 4500 miles on ours this summer and it only went to the high rpms with the tuner a couple of time up in the colorado mountains. No CC involved, just mashing the pedal. we crossed over wolf creek was down to about 26mph nearing the crest, passed a struggling new dodge at 36 mph just before the crest. So overall yes I think it helped, but they can be expensive, bought mine last year during the christmas sale about $350 as I recall, could have been a little less.

I am looking to change out the muffler to a free flow gibson unit and will try to get a better air intake setup. Its all up to you, but I did what I did and am planning to make the other changes. And no the mfr's do not build except to pass government requirements. They leave much on the table that the aftermarket has taken the challenge to make your system perform better. Mufflers are a prime example they try to keep everything quiet for noise issues, same with the air intakes and as a result there are a lot of power losses in between. Go to one of the sites dealing with the V10 and ask there and then judge for yourself.

The manufacturer sets the vehicle up for the best combination of performance and fuel economy. Tunes will generally increase performance (and that's arguable) at the cost of fuel economy. Additionally, you may not even drive the way needed to realize any gain, for example wide open throttle. They may also void any warrantee.

IMO it would be a waste of money but that depends on what your expectation is for what a tune would do for you.

Since this is the Class C forum, I take it you're asking about the Two-Valve V10 used in E-Series, as opposed to the Three-Valve used in newer F-Series.

It could help to know the Year of the Chassis, and which Transmission you have. Five-Star could act differently with the 4R100 transmission vs. the TorqShift. I don't know if the 1997-98-99 V10's will act differently than the 2000-and-up with different heads.

These posts have '5 star tuner' in them.