1998 Ford E450 Super Duty Triton V10- opinions?!

[millerrm37]

I am looking at purchasing a 1998 Coachman Leprechaun with a Ford E450 Super Duty Triton V10 and am looking for any feedback from anyone who has dealt with this type of engine. Just looking for your thoughts on performance, mileage, issues, etc. We will not really be towing anything with it. Thanks!

[eddard49]

Mine is a 31' Gulfstream Ultra, which weighs 14,300 Lbs. when fully loaded. I've only had it two years, but have had no problems. I've averaged around 8 to 9 MPG, but I drive very conservatively. Yes, it does want to run at high RPM for any pulling power.

[rjstractor]

I had one (a '98) for a number of years, and according to the manual it had "only" 265 hp/425 torque. Apparently it didn't realize that, since loaded to 17,000 combined it rolled up and over all the Cascade passes without a hiccup. Often it had to rev in 2nd gear, but that engine liked it just fine. I've heard stories of those motors spitting spark plugs, but I've yet to talk to a real live person who has experienced that problem with this engine. I had zero mechanical problems.

[DrewE]

In general they're decent engines. (I think you'll find that the chassis is actually called an E-SuperDuty that year, but that's just a nomenclature thing.) I have a '98 Coachmen with that chassis and engine, and have no big complaints. It is a little noisy and unrefined, to be sure, but seems to have sufficient power for anything I've needed to do. The 4 speed transmission works, but is not as refined as the 5 speed that replaced it and does not have the useful tow/haul mode. The gap between the top two gears is the same (and rather larger than one may wish) on both transmissions.

Make certain that the spark plugs are properly torqued with a torque wrench whenever they are changed. As was mentioned, these engines do have a tendency to spit out plugs due to having insufficient threads in the head. It's possible to repair when it happens, but does not make for a very good or economical day, to say the least.

I seem to get somewhere in the range of 8 mpg or a little less on the highway. I would expect much the same for you. The aerodynamics of a class C are horrible.

[j-d]

That V10 will be 275-HP, about like the last (1996 model Chassis Year) 460's. Newer ones (2000 and later) have "Performance Improved" heads and 305-hp. I drove the 275-hp in an F250 towing a large fifth wheel, and a much newer F350 with a Bigfoot truck camper. Yes, F-series, but my points are

1. I couldn't tell much difference in how they drove and the 350 had the three-valve V10 (ALL E-Series are two-valve) between two-valve/275 and three-valve/362. So I don't think you'd ever fell the performance difference in 1997-99 with 275 and 2000+ with 305.

2. Also, it seemed to me that the 275-hp got a little better fuel mileage than either of the engines with more HP/more valves.

3. But... The 275-hp had very few threads on its spark plug threads. A number of them "spit" plugs. Not just V10's - all the "Modular" engines, like 4.6 and 5.4 V8's (and I believe also a V6) had the same issue. The three-valves have plug issues too, but they're different and the discussion's irrelevant since no E-Series gets a three-valve engine.

[Go_Dogs]

It's very thirsty!!!

[Vulcan_Rider]

How many miles ?
I don't suppose you can get any maintenance records ?

I think in general the engine itself is pretty rock solid.
I don't know about aux. systems like A/C, alternator, etc.
There are a lot of them around; I'm sure others will chime in.

I'm just finding out that the ball joints probably need attention around 50K miles AND the factory settings for the alignment sucks.

I think you can expect 8 MPG or a bit less; that's what I get with my '07.