early 90's C on a Ford e350 7.5l V8

SoCalDesertRider wrote:
Most folks never bother to change the rear axle oil, transfer case and front axle oil (if 4wd), or engine coolant, and let the tranny oil go way too long between changes. Those are things I usually do soon after buying a used vehicle, so I know I'm starting fresh with everything and I have a reference point as to when to change them in the future. I do engine oil/filters and brakes/hub bearings as needed, since most folks do keep up with those somewhat.

X2
In addition check the u joints and carrier bearing.
There is very little airflow up around the engine and this leads to high temperature around the engine resulting in high amounts of heat coming into the cab and contributes to shorter life of spark plug wires and exhaust manifold problems. Having a air dam fabricated and bolted to the frame immediately behind and below the front bumper will direct air up and around the engine flushing the excess heat out.
If you think you are overheating measure the temp of the upper heat radiator hose. Ford used a voltage regulator for the instrument panel that when it starts to fail it will show a false high reading on the temp gauge.

dicknellen wrote:
I had a mid 90s E-350 w/460 v8 MH, had exhaust header & front brake problems.

The first exhaust manifolds that I took to a machine shop to be re-surfaced after warping were from a Dodge. Shop tech said "Van, huh?" and I said Yes. Told me the air flow around van (therefore Class C) Doghouses is so limited that they warp more manifolds than other vehicles.

Fast forward to our E350 with a 460 in it. Warped manifolds. Again, I had them re-surfaced. By the way, most cylinder head machines can't do exhaust manifolds. I had to find a shop with a "belt sander." I reassembled with stamped steel gaskets (not the fiber ones), NeverSeez on both sides, and just enough torque to crush the stampings. Left the sheet metal "heat stoves" off and used new bolts. I also replaced the exhaust with a 3" FlowMaster system, which I think carried more heat out the exhaust than OEM did. Never warped again.

I believe we abuse our manifolds if we take a flying dive off the interstate into the nearest fuel island and shut the key off. That is a lot of rapid cooling of manifolds that were as hot as they can get. I think a slow exit, slow approach and a few minutes idling helps with this.

I had a mid 90s E-350 w/460 v8 MH, had exhaust header & front brake problems.

Most folks never bother to change the rear axle oil, transfer case and front axle oil (if 4wd), or engine coolant, and let the tranny oil go way too long between changes. Those are things I usually do soon after buying a used vehicle, so I know I'm starting fresh with everything and I have a reference point as to when to change them in the future. I do engine oil/filters and brakes/hub bearings as needed, since most folks do keep up with those somewhat.

great info, thanks!
would you recommend any special maintance if I find one I like?

Ford's overdrive automatic trannys weren't so great in the early 90's. The C6 3-speed auto, which doesn't have overdrive, was a far better tranny than the AOD, AODE and early E4OD overdrive autos they had back then.

I don't think Ford made E350 cutaway chassis for motorhomes with the 460 and ZF 5 speed manual overdrive tranny, but if they did, that's what I would look for.

The 460 put out more power in the '95-'98 model years, than in previous years. Or, if you can find one with the diesel the '95-'98 years, the 7.3 Powerstroke diesel is a more economical engine to run than the 460 and puts out more power too. Also, the later model year E40D trannys were better than the early ones. The E4OD is what you will find behind the 7.3 diesel. The earlier 7.3 IDI diesel (model years up to '94) is not as good as the Powerstroke and makes less power too.