Need Advice on E450 Engine Mod

I have well above 200k km on my k&n filters with no engine problems I have driven all the cars I've ever put one in to 300k km before a non engine related part or system went. I will admit my work partner drives an f150 with a k&n oem replacement I got to see it one day and will give ford cudos on their attention to respiration of their engines they seem to put really big stock filters and air boxes in them. With that in mind I might avoid the CAI and instead use that money on a tuner or exhaust or better yet a suspension upgrade if you have a little more control over sway and bucking you should see a mileage improvement.

I installed a K&N on a F150. Did not notice any improvement in power or fuel economy. However, after about 4000 miles had to replace a MAF sensor as the oil from the K&N caused it to stop working properly. Cost of replacement was $350. I then found there were some products I could have used to clean it.

Went back to stock air filter.

There is no avenue I can see for the KN to increase gas mileage on a closed loop system. It probably increases power slightly at high RPM. I prefer the stock filter for dust removal efficiency.

There is a chip maker, can't remember who, that published some data showing the V10 remains in closed loop operation even at full throttle. Most car engines go to open loop under full throttle and run 12 or 13 to 1 air fuel ratio. This allows more timing advance and more torque. The chip changes parameters to open loop richer mixture at full throttle with more torque and power.

For me, the stock engine has sufficient power and I like the safety of factory tuning. My driving enjoyment is not limited by the power but the handling of the class C. This is my priority for upgrading-suspension components.

Fleetwood E4 wrote:
I was reading up on a K&N website about a cold air intake system for my E450 v10 Class C motor home. They said "You could get 17.5 horsepower gain & 22 ft lbs of torque & a small increase of gas millage." I was wondering if anyone has done this to their motor home or is it even worth the cost? Any advice would greatly be appreciated. :@

They said "you COULD get 17.5 horsepoer gain & 22ft.lbs of torque and a small increase of gas milage".

You could but maybe (probably not). Not a guaratee. Your chice.

The stock intake doesn't really restrict the engine UNTIL you first free up the rest of the system (i.e. exhaust). Stock, I would be surprised if it adds anything other than noise.

FWIW - I have an AFE Stage-2 intake on my E350. It did add decent torque, enough that I can climb hills in OD with the trailer. But.... I already had the Banks PowerPack.

Fleetwood E4 wrote:
I was reading up on a K&N website about a cold air intake system for my E450 v10 Class C motor home. They said "You could get 17.5 horsepower gain & 22 ft lbs of torque & a small increase of gas millage." I was wondering if anyone has done this to their motor home or is it even worth the cost? Any advice would greatly be appreciated. :@

As noted, I think the K&N is about the worst thing that you can add to your engine. There are many independent published tests that confirm that the greater particle size that the K&N allows in is a really bad idea.

What you have is the 2-valve, improved crank V10. This version was started in...2001, and is still being put in E350/E450 chassis. It is a rock solid engine.

The Banks headers system was a great addition on the older 460-V8, it has proven less so on the V10. Even less on the E350/E450 chassis where the greater heat it generates has caused issues with the poorer cooling the E series gets vrs the F series.

What does appear to give a boost is the a good engine chip. The best one is probably Mikes 5-star. I have yet (on any forum, including the V10 forum ) see any complaints about it.

You don't mention what the model year is. If you have the 4R100 transmission I would add a Banks Transcommand.

pauldub wrote:
Be aware that a K&N filter doesn't filter as well as an OEM equivalent paper filter.

What he said

The K&N is a bad idea waiting to wreck your engine. While it can increase airflow, it does so by not filtering the air enough to ensure that dust does not get into the engine.

Be aware that a K&N filter doesn't filter as well as an OEM equivalent paper filter.

No all I have at the moment is a cold air intake from k&n. next on the list is a computer tuner for non towing to get better miledge(would love to use it for towing but apparently the remapping of my engine the tow haul mode does is as good as it gets. All a tuner would allow in this situation on my truck is stiffer shifts and I could move them a little.). If I ever need an exhaust I will be upgrading to the largest pipe I can still emissions test on and a conservative muffler not so open its impossible to talk over ever but not so restrictive as it is now. And that's it.
Be very carefull with that v10 its a good engine but its oil hungry at work we got 10 added to our fleet of trucks when the diesel became unavailable in our platform we blew 3 of them up within several months in 12 hours they were burning several liters of oil. Bear in mind that is a towing engine ment to haul not idle. Ours idle almost constantly. I have another friend who had one in a 350 pu and he said he was adding a liter of oil every week or two and his idled very little.

Are you talking about the "Banks" system? We have a V10 and used the transponder which really helped. We installed the air filter--also helped, and will finally put the engine module in and see if it makes a difference. Not sure it will give a lot more mileage, but performance is supposed to improve, and so far ours has from what we installed.