Looking at motorhomes....have a question

[rusty ol ranger]

I sold my massive camper back a couplhe years ago and frankly, me and the wife miss it. (her more then me, but anyway...)

We've been casually looking at motorhomes. Class C's and smaller A's.

She dont want to go old enough for me to get a 460 model so im looking at V10's.

My question is....did the 3V V10's have the same cam phaser issues as the 3v 5.4's? I also read that the V10's didnt even have them cause they dont have VVT. But i want a solid answer.

 

[Shran]

I don't think you will find a 3v V10 in a motorhome. As far as I know the Econoline chassis only ever got 2v engines, and that was true up to whatever their last year of production was (2018 or something like that? fairly recent.)

I also don't believe any V10 had cam phasers.

Overall they are really solid engines. I'm happy with my 3v truck. My buddy down the street has a small Class A with a V10 and is happy with it, my other buddy has a fairly new Class C, V10 powered rig and says it's very underpowered for what it is...but everything else he owns burns diesel...so there is that. Main problems with them I think were cracked exhaust manifolds, spark plugs breaking off on the 3v engines and self ejecting on the old 2v engines.

I drove my in-law's class C that had a 351w in it and I had a 73 Dodge Class A that had a 440, both of those were god awful turds so whatever you get with a V10 will be fine. That 440 would just scream and act like it was the baddest engine on the planet but it was totally tapped out by the time it hit 55mph.

 

[Snoranger]

No, the common 3 valve issues were never seen in the E-series. The most common “big problem” we saw with the V10 in the Econolines at work was cracked exhaust manifolds.

 

[sgtsandman]

I've never heard of anyone having major issues with the V10.

As far as motor homes, what I've seen other people have had in experiences with theirs, they fall in the same category as a boat. Every time you turn around, you are dumping another $1,000 into them. Mainly because of how much they sit than anything else.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

I don't think you will find a 3v V10 in a motorhome. As far as I know the Econoline chassis only ever got 2v engines, and that was true up to whatever their last year of production was (2018 or something like that? fairly recent.)

I also don't believe any V10 had cam phasers.

Overall they are really solid engines. I'm happy with my 3v truck. My buddy down the street has a small Class A with a V10 and is happy with it, my other buddy has a fairly new Class C, V10 powered rig and says it's very underpowered for what it is...but everything else he owns burns diesel...so there is that. Main problems with them I think were cracked exhaust manifolds, spark plugs breaking off on the 3v engines and self ejecting on the old 2v engines.

I drove my in-law's class C that had a 351w in it and I had a 73 Dodge Class A that had a 440, both of those were god awful turds so whatever you get with a V10 will be fine. That 440 would just scream and act like it was the baddest engine on the planet but it was totally tapped out by the time it hit 55mph.

My dad had a 73(?) Winnebago back in the early 90's built on a dodge chassis with a 318. It was painfully slow (espicially when towing his heavy as hell horse trailer) but was reliable as the sun.

I've never heard of anyone having major issues with the V10.

As far as motor homes, as far as what I've seen other people have had in experiences with theirs, they fall in the same category as a boat. Every time you turn around, you are dumping another $1,000 into them. Mainly because of how much they sit than anything else.

Yeah i figured that. Id pry fire it up once every few weeks and run it into town or something though just to keep it from sitting.

We got 3 options, 1) buy a camper small enough to tow with jeep (not really feasable as between us and the dogs there wouldnt be much room in a sub 20 footer) 2) Sell the jeep, pay off her car (jeeps paid for) and buy a good used F250/2500 ram and a decent sized camper or 3) motorhome.

With the dogs, and for convienence sake i feel like a motorhome is the way to go. I could get a tow dolly and roll her fusion on it and hit the road. Or tow my quads, or whatever. It would be nice to being able to just pull into a rest stop or parking lot and cook a meal and relax, etc. I wouldnt have to worry about a tow vehicle, but there are very big downsides to...mostly financial.

I guess we'll just have to see whats out there...but thats why i asked about the V10 because thats one less issue to worry about.

How do the trannys hold up you figure?

 

[Snoranger]

I was looking into motorhomes a while ago and the one thing I saw a lot was that the V10 was the go to engine in any gas motorhome.

 

[sgtsandman]

How do the trannys hold up you figure?

I don't recall any of them having transmission issues. At least, not that I ever noticed.

 

[sgtsandman]

 

[rusty ol ranger]

I was looking into motorhomes a while ago and the one thing I saw a lot was that the V10 was the go to engine in any gas motorhome.

Ive ran across a couple 8.1's and one 6.0....but yes 98% are 6.8's

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

My dad had a 73(?) Winnebago back in the early 90's built on a dodge chassis with a 318. It was painfully slow (espicially when towing his heavy as hell horse trailer) but was reliable as the sun.


Yeah i figured that. Id pry fire it up once every few weeks and run it into town or something though just to keep it from sitting.

We got 3 options, 1) buy a camper small enough to tow with jeep (not really feasable as between us and the dogs there wouldnt be much room in a sub 20 footer) 2) Sell the jeep, pay off her car (jeeps paid for) and buy a good used F250/2500 ram and a decent sized camper or 3) motorhome.

With the dogs, and for convienence sake i feel like a motorhome is the way to go. I could get a tow dolly and roll her fusion on it and hit the road. Or tow my quads, or whatever. It would be nice to being able to just pull into a rest stop or parking lot and cook a meal and relax, etc. I wouldnt have to worry about a tow vehicle, but there are very big downsides to...mostly financial.

I guess we'll just have to see whats out there...but thats why i asked about the V10 because thats one less issue to worry about.

How do the trannys hold up you figure?

If you want a newer camper with a 460... get a slide in for your F-250...

 

[Shran]

The 5 speed auto in my F250 has been fine for me. It shifts nice and I feel like they damn near perfected the shift timing. Like I said, very solid truck. I’m sure whatever is in the motorhomes will be good too.

 

[scotts90ranger]

I think some of the motorhomes even got the Allison but not sure... the V10 is a solid engine, have a couple friends with them and they do fine, get like 6mpg towing a vehicle on trailer but you'll get that... They're small cylinders so they turn some R's to get the power but they don't care too much...

8.1L or V10 would be a good place to be but the Ford's got the majority of the market after the '90's

I like the camper life but I do get the motorhome thing and it makes me kinda want one here and there but I'm way behind on projects...

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

If you get one make sure you take care of the roof. Check and fix every spring and fall.

 

[Jim Oaks]

I had a sparkplug launch out of the V10 in my Excursion. Had to tap it and put a helicoil in it. Other than that, I had to change a couple of spark plug coils.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I had a sparkplug launch out of the V10 in my Excursion. Had to tap it and put a helicoil in it. Other than that, I had to change a couple of spark plug coils.

2v coils were not super great, I kept a spare under the seat of my 5.4 F-150 with a socket set that had a 7mm wobble socket.