Who has the highest mileage Ford V10 motorhome?

Gjac - Mine is a 2-valve 305 HP + Banks PowerPack and a tuner.

I run full synthetic, changed every 8-15,000 miles determined by amount of short trips. I do make sure to use a good filter as well, usually NAPA Gold. I did run synthetic blend up until ~180,000 but it got noticeably noisier on cold starts after about 5,000 miles, and I had trouble meeting that interval, hence the switch. As a beneficial side affect... Since I bought the van I would get a small puff of oil smoke at cold start about 1 in 15 starts. Since switching to synthetic that has gone away, I presume by re-hydrating the valve stem seals.

Transmission I do a full drain and fill using the "bucket method" every 100,000 miles. I use NAPA Mercon-V since I have the 4R100.

I'm a Ford guy and I will admit, this is the first time I have ever heard of this "well known problem". I'm thinking the guy is an alarmist looking for Youtube followers. I could be wrong.

carringb wrote:
My V10 has 437,500 as of today, original engine and transmission. My combined weight is typically 22,000 pounds, and over 250,000 of those miles are towing miles.

I did preventatively replace the timing chains, coils, and injectors because I don't want a trip ever side-lined for repairs. Its still starts up strong every morning and doesn't smoke one bit. My transmission is totally un-touched except for adding a magne-fine filter, and a larger cooler (F53s all get the larger cooler stock).

My next van will be a V10 as well, but I don't plan on replacing this one until I pass 500,000 miles. And even then, I'll probably keep it as a spare.

This was a very helpful post. How often did you change fluids in eng and transmission? Did you use regular oil or syn oil? Is this a 2 valve V-10 with 275 HP?

Wow - simple question about mileage and we now have the reason that Arthur Anderson closed up shop.

We are renting a Cruise America 30' with the V10 next month for the Grand Canyon. I'll have a better idea of performance after that.

Wow - simple question about mileage and we now have the reason that Arthur Anderson closed up shop.

We are renting a Cruise America 30' with the V10 next month for the Grand Canyon. I'll have a better idea of performance after that.

DryCreek wrote:

Goldencrazy wrote:
If you can ride a moped enough miles to get the average to 40 or half that Enron should make you man of the year. Oh wait, they want you to burn fuel. They might put a hit on you. My point is that I drive many miles with a toad that get's 45 mpg and many less with the motorhome that get's 7 mpg and is a house on wheels and also transports the toad free of charge. Fuel efficiency is more than one thing. We also have a Prius for a family car. Now all of that said I have 6,000 miles on the new six speed four and the mpg is improving. From slightly over 6 to slightly over 7. I am hopefull that will continue to 8 or 9 with reasonable speeds and normal conditions.

Well, actually Enron was in the bulk electric power sales business, so they weren't into increasing petroleum product usage in order to bolster their bottom line. Perhaps you were thinking of Exon/mobile USA?

To make the math work, I could borrow my sister in laws moped and somehow drag it
















into the motor home we are going to bring home this coming week. I would then drive the 14 miles to meridian State Park and drag it back out. From there I could ride it all the way to Waco and have a round trip mileage of 104 miles. The moped gets around 92 m.p.g. Then, I could load it back into the motor home that the previous owner swore got 9 m.p.g without a toad and drive the 14 miles back home.

So, what is the average m.p.g between the two "vehicles", and just how does that help anyone wondering if the should choose a V-10 over a Cummins ISX?

One other nitpicking observation is that I really don't think that you have an absolute "zero hit" to your motor home mileage when you have a toad, do you?

"I drive many miles with a toad that get's 45 mpg and many less with the motorhome that get's 7 mpg and is a house on wheels and also transports the toad free of charge."

I can say that towing the Smart Car has no impact on my mpg. Towing the Grand Cherokee on the other hand does. I should also note that the Smart does require premium fuel so it costs a bit mor per gallon to put in my 8 gallons for fillup.

carringb wrote:
My V10 has 437,500 as of today, original engine and transmission. My combined weight is typically 22,000 pounds, and over 250,000 of those miles are towing miles.

I did preventatively replace the timing chains, coils, and injectors because I don't want a trip ever side-lined for repairs. Its still starts up strong every morning and doesn't smoke one bit. My transmission is totally un-touched except for adding a magne-fine filter, and a larger cooler (F53s all get the larger cooler stock).

My next van will be a V10 as well, but I don't plan on replacing this one until I pass 500,000 miles. And even then, I'll probably keep it as a spare.

Impressive!

Not sure how many miles it will go in a motorhome. I managed a shop with about 20 F350 with V10s. No engine issues in over 4 years there.
They pulled loaded 22-26ft. enclosed trailers 5 days a week with lots of idle time too. They all had about 200k on them when they went to auction.

DryCreek wrote:


One other nitpicking observation is that I really don't think that you have an absolute "zero hit" to your motor home mileage when you have a toad, do you?

My fuel economy goes up by 1.5 MPG when I'm towing my Fiesta. I think it helps smooth the low pressure area behind the rig, but I'm also probably subconsciously driving a little more conservatively.

My V10 has 437,500 as of today, original engine and transmission. My combined weight is typically 22,000 pounds, and over 250,000 of those miles are towing miles.

I did preventatively replace the timing chains, coils, and injectors because I don't want a trip ever side-lined for repairs. Its still starts up strong every morning and doesn't smoke one bit. My transmission is totally un-touched except for adding a magne-fine filter, and a larger cooler (F53s all get the larger cooler stock).

My next van will be a V10 as well, but I don't plan on replacing this one until I pass 500,000 miles. And even then, I'll probably keep it as a spare.