v10 thor Hurricane 34R gas mileage

[1Hurricane]

wondering why no one talks about how to improve the ford 3valve V10 engine gas mileage...

[16ACE27]

Originally Posted by 1Hurricane

wondering why no one talks about how to improve the ford 3valve V10 engine gas mileage...

They do, several threads about improving Class A MH gas mileage (including the thread you started about 4 months ago but never participated in). Basically a mental exercise in futility.

https://www.thorforums.com/forums/f2...nce-31826.html

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by 1Hurricane

wondering why no one talks about how to improve the ford 3valve V10 engine gas mileage...

Try using the forum’s search feature and the read about all the ways to waste your money.

[Unchartered]

The single biggest factor for MPG resides in the drivers seat.

[Chateau_Nomad]

Haven't you heard about that new 50mpg carburetor? It won't work on fuel injected engines though.

But seriously, and a spoiler alert before browsing the nearly endless threads about this topic...

Bottom line... a motorhome is NOT a fuel efficient vehicle. Physics dictates that reality. No amount of aftermarket tuning and modifications will make any significant improvement. You will spend magnitudes of cash trying to get a miniscule improvement.

Drive sensibly and live with what you get mileage-wise. It's much less stressful... isn't that what "RV LIFE" is all about?

[Lt Keefer]

Threads about fuel mileage or EVs always crack me up. If people really care about how much fuel they use or the environment, a recreational vehicle would be the last vehicle they would use.

[Dan-sr@perra-us.net]

Originally Posted by Chateau_Nomad

Haven't you heard about that new 50mpg carburetor? It won't work on fuel injected engines though.

But seriously, and a spoiler alert before browsing the nearly endless threads about this topic...

Bottom line... a motorhome is NOT a fuel efficient vehicle. Physics dictates that reality. No amount of aftermarket tuning and modifications will make any significant improvement. You will spend magnitudes of cash trying to get a miniscule improvement.

Drive sensibly and live with what you get mileage-wise. It's much less stressful... isn't that what "RV LIFE" is all about?

There are tuners that in combination with exhaust system modifications could maybe get a whopping 10% increase in MPG. So, let's look at that. With most if not all Ford V10 motorhomes getting about 7 MPG more or less depending on how heavy the driver's foot is .7 MPG assuming an 80-gallon tank will get you .7 x 80 = 56 more miles per tank full or $167 dollars or so for every 80 gallons purchased. So, assuming a cost of $2000.00 for the modifications in theory after buying 960 gallons of fuel the mods will have paid for by the savings. This assumes that somehow in contradiction of human nature the driver will not be tempted to make use of the extra power granted by the modifications. I really think you could get a better bang for your buck by installing a Sumo Spring under the gas pedal.

[ODHill]

I'm not sure that you'll ever be able to do anything to improve what the motorhome is capable of but there are things you can do to keep what you have. My motorhome was 2 years old when I got it and a former rental, so I'm sure it only had what attention it needed to keep it on the road. When I bought it, I took a short trip (160 miles round trip) to check everything out and tracked my mileage for a baseline. I was getting 6.7, highway 101 from Olympia, WA to Sequim, WA and with lots of curves and a few hills. When I got home, I did a full service, and the engine oil was pretty cruddy. I changed the filter and put in the recommended weight of oil, using Costco's brand of full synthetic. My front tire wear indicated that the alignment was off a bit and my rear tires were a mis-matched mix, so I put new tires on it, upgraded the anti-sway bars and the steering stabilizer, then had it aligned. I looked at one of the spark plugs and it had a heavy white buildup so pulled the rest and changed them all, though I didn't change the coils like they recommended figuring the mileage was really low, so figured I'd just keep an eye on it with my scanner and watch the plugs. I also changed the air filter element. We made the same trip after doing that stuff and the mileage went up a lot, to 9.7, and the motorhome was running a lot stronger. I don't know what made the most difference, but my guess is spark plugs. Probably ran bad gas somewhere along the line. I changed the plug on the generator, and it was fine, so must have only run the engine on the bad gas. I bought a used Kia Soul and set it up to tow and don't notice a bit of difference in the mileage, which kind of surprised me. We've been mostly RVing to places along the WA and Oregon coasts so don't know what freeway mileage to expect but I doubt we'll see much better mileage. We kicked around getting a diesel Super-C but after recovering from the price tag we figured we'd just keep kicking that around for awhile.

[Travelin' Texans]

Originally Posted by ODHill

I'm not sure that you'll ever be able to do anything to improve what the motorhome is capable of but there are things you can do to keep what you have. My motorhome was 2 years old when I got it and a former rental, so I'm sure it only had what attention it needed to keep it on the road. When I bought it, I took a short trip (160 miles round trip) to check everything out and tracked my mileage for a baseline. I was getting 6.7, highway 101 from Olympia, WA to Sequim, WA and with lots of curves and a few hills. When I got home, I did a full service, and the engine oil was pretty cruddy. I changed the filter and put in the recommended weight of oil, using Costco's brand of full synthetic. My front tire wear indicated that the alignment was off a bit and my rear tires were a mis-matched mix, so I put new tires on it, upgraded the anti-sway bars and the steering stabilizer, then had it aligned. I looked at one of the spark plugs and it had a heavy white buildup so pulled the rest and changed them all, though I didn't change the coils like they recommended figuring the mileage was really low, so figured I'd just keep an eye on it with my scanner and watch the plugs. I also changed the air filter element. We made the same trip after doing that stuff and the mileage went up a lot, to 9.7, and the motorhome was running a lot stronger. I don't know what made the most difference, but my guess is spark plugs. Probably ran bad gas somewhere along the line. I changed the plug on the generator, and it was fine, so must have only run the engine on the bad gas. I bought a used Kia Soul and set it up to tow and don't notice a bit of difference in the mileage, which kind of surprised me. We've been mostly RVing to places along the WA and Oregon coasts so don't know what freeway mileage to expect but I doubt we'll see much better mileage. We kicked around getting a diesel Super-C but after recovering from the price tag we figured we'd just keep kicking that around for awhile.

If you're getting 9+ mpg with the Ford V10 towing you'd better keep that one & donate it to the Ford museum when you finish with.
I drove Ford V10 pickups at work & NEVER had one that got that mileage & I very rarely towed anything. On a good day with a strong tailwind they might to get 8 mpg, 6.5-7 was more the average. That V10 was/is powerful, when they ran & could pass everything on the highway.............but a gas station.

[Chateau_Nomad]

I get a fairly reliable 9 to 10 mpg. Typically 8 mpg towing the Jeep. That's what I accepted when I bought the motorhome, and it's the sacrifice I make to have our private motel room on wheels.

If I wanted better mileage I'd rent a Prius and stay in an Airbnb.

[Pete'sMH]

Originally Posted by Travelin' Texans

If you're getting 9+ mpg with the Ford V10 towing you'd better keep that one & donate it to the Ford museum when you finish with.
I drove Ford V10 pickups at work & NEVER had one that got that mileage & I very rarely towed anything. On a good day with a strong tailwind they might to get 8 mpg, 6.5-7 was more the average. That V10 was/is powerful, when they ran & could pass everything on the highway.............but a gas station.

I agree. I have had 3 V10 f-53 based class A RVs and all of them averaged between 6.5 and 7 mpg whether towing or not. I pretty much always set cruise control to 66 but have tried slower with minimal improvement. Anyone whose coach is getting 10 mpg is driving a unicorn.

[16ACE27]

Although the OP was questioned his Class A V10 mileage you should note the responses from those with higher mileage figures are driving smaller Class C v10s - quite believable. I have a smaller Class A and usually get 8 to 8.5 MPG. Larger/heavier Class A's will get less. The "big improvement" with the Godzilla V8 never materialized because you are still pushing a heavy wall down the road - it requires a specific amount of energy.

[Chateau_Nomad]

Ford made numerous factory tuning adjustments over the years on the legacy V-10. Also, the engine used in commercial trucks and pickups had considerably different design and tuning than the motorhome version. Adding to that, the engine in the last few years of motorhome specific production was significantly different than earlier iterations. Comparing performance and mileage between all the variants is not comparing apples to apples.

[Muggs]

I cannot speak for f53 based units but seems that Ford did a decent job with generic e350/e450 stripped chassis. 2016 Vegas 24.1 hangs right at 10 to 11 regardless of pulling trailer. Every fill up is going to be divide by 10 and be very close. A rear gear change may improve it, but as % goes the ROI would not be worth it. 6 years, 46,000 miles, it still gets same on average. I only watch as a performance/condition indicator.

[The Gritz Carlton]

I forget what Ford called it (maybe the Excursion), but the Sales Prevention Team designed it to compete with the Suburban. The "engineer" with no windows in his office selected the engine to be the V-10. That thing died before if got off the assembly line.

[Matthew]

My experience:
2020 31y Class C. 55 gallon tank. Consistently get over 500 miles per fill up. Run in high 60's mph on highway (seems to be a sweet spot with cabin noise). Accelerate very slow from complete stops.

[Travelin' Texans]

I drove them working in the oilfield pipeline industry where the truck spent as much time on dirt roads at 30 mph as it did on the highway doing 70 & still was a good day if it got more than 7.5 mpg.

[16ACE27]

Several posts in this thread have been deleted as "Off Topic". This thread is about the V10 MPG experience.

Originally Posted by 1Hurricane

wondering why no one talks about how to improve the ford 3valve V10 engine gas mileage...

Wondering why the OP has started two threads of this nature; the last one was in August; and he never returns to read or participate in them. In fact, the OP has not returned to the Forum to read any of the responses to this thread.

[Jchadwi]

We have just over 52000 miles on our 2018 29M and have never checked the fuel mileage. But I do know that it 40-60 gallons at each time I put gas in the 80 gallon tank!

[twovillagers]

My experience with gas mileage on the V-10 varies a lot based on terrain, wind, speed, generator use, etc. I generally drive 63-68 mph and tow a Jeep Wrangler. MPG varies from 8 to 10 with one all time high of 11 in Illinois-no wind and absolutely flat on Interstate. Overall average is 9-9.5.