Haven't seen this happen with a V10 here...yet

[JamieGeek]

Gather around folks and listen to a story.....

So we haven't gone anywhere since our big trip to UT and CO back in July. The reason why is that we started hearing a strange rattle coming from the engine. Now there was no power loss and no codes thrown so we continued the trip home. Once home, however, we decided to get it looked at.

Having the techs look and listen at it the noise was determined to be originating from the drivers side valve cover. "Ugh great that sounds hugely expensive? Cam shaft, valve, etc.". If you want to hear what it sounded like here it is: (I stuck my GoPro in the engine compartment trying to locate the sound, at the time I made the video it sounded to me like a loose pully hence videoing around behind the radiator)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGWt85SeyQM

(Listening to it again it does sound pretty bad LOL.)

I also sent that video around to some other knowledible people to see what they came up with.

One of them replied: "Oh I bet that is the PVC Valve Splash guard" shouldn't be that big of a problem to fix, and included the following video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3MoK3sQm80

Now that the RV is fixed: Yup that is what it was. The plastic PVC Valve Splash guard's epoxy came loose and let it bounce around on top of the camshaft (fortunately for us it didn't even hit any cams). The mechanics cleaned it off, re-epoxied it, and put some rivets in for good measure LOL.

Good to go.

So for all of you V-10 owners (a lot of us) if you hear the above noise you may already know what it is and it isn't serious (except that the repair is a pain for Axis/Vegas owners given how tight the doghouse is).

Apparently this is a not uncommon issue with Triton engines...so keep an ear out.

[happy]

That is good news!!!



Just think if it was a Chevy engine, how much worse would it have been?

[taylorbob1]

Excellent diagnosis and write-up.
Thank you.

[Chateau_Nomad]

I see your coach is a 2014? How long ago did you notice this? Mine is a 2020 (2019 chassis). Also, what is your mileage?

I figure it's an inherent manufacturing flaw, and most likely will show up in about every engine... depending on age/engine hours etc.

GREAT write up by the way!!

[JamieGeek]

Originally Posted by Chateau_Nomad

I see your coach is a 2014? How long ago did you notice this? Mine is a 2020 (2019 chassis). Also, what is your mileage?

I figure it's an inherent manufacturing flaw, and most likely will show up in about every engine... depending on age/engine hours etc.

GREAT write up by the way!!

Does your 2020 have the V8 or the V10?

We only have about 24k miles on it. It started happening during our out West trip so we only drove it that way to get home (about 1500 miles).

[Chateau_Nomad]

Originally Posted by JamieGeek

Does your 2020 have the V8 or the V10?

We only have about 24k miles on it. It started happening during our out West trip so we only drove it that way to get home (about 1500 miles).

Although our motorhome is titled as a 2020, the chassis is a 2019 Ford E-Series chassis, the last year of the V-10 engine.

There technically are no 2020 Ford E-series chassis - that year was skipped. Thor used the 2019 chassis for the 2020 model motorhomes. The 2021 chassis was the introduction of the new V-8.

Thanks again for the heads-up. I sometimes hear odd noises (metallic rattling?) between "hard" upshifts when descending a steep hill. Kinda sounds like engine knock from low octane fuel, but I never hear it on hard acceleration - where you would typically expect that type of knocking to occur.

[Muggs]

Great heads up. Getting ready to pull doghouse on our 2016 Vegas to look at everything, hoses etc. Is one more thing to check.

[JamieGeek]

Originally Posted by Muggs

Great heads up. Getting ready to pull doghouse on our 2016 Vegas to look at everything, hoses etc. Is one more thing to check.

You should be able to check the guard by simply pulling the PVC valve and looking in the hole. Maybe stick a screwdriver in there to see if you can move it.