V10 Ford motor

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stretch12

Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2006
Posts
13
We have a 35' class A motor home with a Ford V10 engine.  We just heard today that 25,000 miles on that engine is just about it and it's done.  We have had some trouble with it losing power and shaking.  Has anyone else heard this statement before?
 
I have no experience with that engine, but 25,000 miles seems ridiculously low.
 
We have the V-10 and just returned from a trip of 8500 miles and total milage is 49K, we have not had a problem with ours, no power problems and no shaking.  Sounds like a bad eng, did you get used or new?
Cheryl
 
That makes me feel better.  They probably just want to sell a new unit.  I think if and when that happens we will go with the Chevy, though.
 
Our windsport had a V10 and we loved it.. had over the 25 k on it when we sold it.. And now we have a Ford F350 crew cab that we pull our 5th wheel with and it too has over that amount and is running strong.... Got to love those 350 little horse's... ;D
 
We bought it used but from a family member.  This was a dealer that said 25,000 is about the limit of the engine.  We drove it in July the same place and towing the same vechicle with no problems.  Whatever happened to cause the shaking and loss of power just happened on this trip.  We have about 27,000 miles on the engine now.
 
Try some injector cleaner.  Running on cheap 87% octane gas will cause bogging.
 
Thanks everyone,  All the positive comments on the V10 makes me feel very confident that I made a good choice.  I picked mine up on Friday night...From the sounds of the comments I'll be riding high for many many miles without a lot of headaches!
 
There were some problems with some of the very first Ford V10's - a few self-destructed within several thousand miles.  Ford replaced (not repaired) them without a whimper.  Since then, I've heard of few, if any, problems and as you see here, most owners are very hapy with their V10's.

We have had some trouble with it losing power and shaking.

Sounds like an ignition problem, maybe a defective spark plug or plug wire. If one or more cylinders misfires, the engine shakes and there maybe a noticeable power loss. That's not a bad engine - just a need for a bit of service.  A "bad" engine is more likely to overheat, use a lot of oil , get oil in the radiator or water in the oil, or just plain seize up. If you don't have any of those major symptoms, I would not be concerned about outright engine failure.
 
Several years ago My wife's Mercury Tracer wagon (Equivlent to Ford Escort) lost power, idled rough and otherwise was failing, I took it to the local ford dealer and they quoted me something way out of sight, they said the fuel pump was leaking (And so it was after they caused the leak, no evidence of a leak before pulling into their shop) the Transmission was bad and it needed a major overhaul, I forget what else they said it needed.....

My car (A GM, started doing the same thing about a week later.

Well, both cars had the same problem.  New spark plug wires and we were good to go.

NOTE: Wife is still driving that tracer,  and all I did was replace the spark plug wires.  I had to pay the dealer to replace the fuel pump they trashed but revenge is a word processor and the name and address of the regulatory agency that governs dealers.

The ford dealer was Kruase's Stark Hickey at 7mile and Grand River in Detroit

Now Tom Holzier Ford in Farmington Hills or Novi (not sure which) gave me great service on another problem with this same car
Treated me very well and I would highly recommend them

 
Well, we finally got our motor home back and some rats ate 3 ignition wires and a heat sensor.  Second time rats got to it.  It has been parked in our backyard and we have 2 fields by us.  We had rat poison in the engine area, but not the whole time between trips.  Nothing wrong with a V10 engine.
 
All during the 60's, 70's, and 80',s the auto industry had lots of troubles with mice and rats eating the wiring.  In fact many were caught inthe fans when the engines started up, CAts as well.  I was a awful mess at times.
 
stretch12 said:
We bought it used but from a family member.  This was a dealer that said 25,000 is about the limit of the engine.  We drove it in July the same place and towing the same vechicle with no problems.  Whatever happened to cause the shaking and loss of power just happened on this trip.  We have about 27,000 miles on the engine now.

There is a potential problem with that engine. It could digest water during a heavy rainstorm. There is a cheap easy fix available from the Ford dealership. Look at your air filter canister, The hole in the bottom could suck up water from the air inlet. The fix is to add a snorkel of sorts that raises the air inlet above the filter. It costs less than $20 and is an easy install.
 
Gary,

"There were some problems with some of the very first Ford V10's - a few self-destructed within several thousand miles."

Do you remember what the problem was with those new Ford V10's?  I assume Ford only replaced the ones that had the problem and if so, for how long?  I wonder how many of the old problem ones are still on the road that can self-destruct at any time! Let's hope that's not stretch12's problem!

BTW, do you remember me and my junky 1978 Class C with MPFI RV from the CompuServe forum?  The MPFI barely passed the NV smog test last year so I tried lowering the fuel pressure (it was running too rich) and this year it passed with flying colors. It runs MUCH better with the MPFI and now idles perfect at all elevations unlike the old carb. But no noticeable improvement in MPG, still about 7.5 to 8.1 MPG in this 22 foot 11,500 lb RV.  Even when it was running rich with the MPFI, it ran fine, a lot better than the old carb. I would not have known it was running rich  if it wasn't for the smog test and the fact that my "check engine" light came on once with a code 45 (too rich @ O2 sensor). BTW, I put an O2 sensor on both the left and right exhaust, with a switch so I can use either one for the ECM.
                                     
                                              -Don- In South San Francisco, CA

 
Don,

Can't answer your question, but it's good to see you here.  Welcome back.
 
Do you remember what the problem was with those new Ford V10's?

I don't recall the details, but it was major, like a seize up or massive valve/head failure.  I recall a series of messages from somebody (here or another RV site) about being stranded waiting for Ford to ship in an entire new engine when the V10 in their motorhome died while en route from Michigan to Arizona. Some sort of problem with manufacturing tolerances on the castings, I think.  I believe any engine with the problem failed within a few thousand miles, so the likelihood of their being a latent disaster seems slim.

BTW, do you remember me and my junky 1978 Class C with MPFI RV from the CompuServe forum?

Yeah, Don, I remember. I thought you were nuts  ;) to bother with a major fuel system conversion on your old van, but it seems to have worked out OK for you. Glad to hear it is still working well.
 
Well hi Don. Trust you and Tom are doing well. I was just thinking the other day that we hadn't see you in a long time. Glad to see your names again.
 

"I believe any engine with the problem failed within a few thousand miles, so the likelihood of their being a latent disaster seems slim.


IOW, they seemed to be okay after once well broken in.


"Yeah, Don, I remember. I thought you were nuts  ;) to bother with a major fuel system conversion on your old van, but it seems to have worked out OK for you. Glad to hear it is still working well."

I've always kept vehicles until they are worthless and then junked them, but they must run well. Perhaps the two thousand bucks I put into this RV could have been better spent towards a new RV, but I enjoyed doing this project and learnt a lot from it. Now I feel that I can easily fix any fuel injected problem in this RV with less trouble than in a new RV. I even carry an extra fuel pump since it's external to the gas tank in this design, unlike newer  RV's which the pump is inside the gasoline tank and impossible to get to during a breakdown on the road. I also carry a spare ECM and distributor and many other spare parts. I want to be sure that any problem that comes up on the road where it's possible to fix myself, I will be ready for it. So I feel this old junky RV is less likely to leave us stuck than a newer one. It's easy to work on, even underneath, because it has a lot of ground clearnace. We won't be buying a new RV anytime soon!

BTW, the cab section  is now freshly painted, so it looks a little less junky.
                                                          -Don-                                                         
 
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