Thor Forums

[FW28z]

Originally Posted by thor293

I wasn't referring to it blowing up and the end result of high rpms is wear and tear. We all know that an engine that runs at 3000 rpm will more than likely outlast an engine running at 4000 rpm. I agree it is a tough engine but why wear any part of it out early

When we had boats, one of the first things you have to get used to is running an engine at high RPM almost constantly. My last boat had a max of 5,000RPM Wide-Open-Throttle, and after getting the boat onto plane at max throttle, I throttled back to around 3,700/4,000 RPM, and it stayed there for the duration of the trip... sometimes for hours.

The engines were built on Chevy 5.7L blocks.

About the only difference in the marine version of the engines (at least internally) are heavy duty springs in the valves for running at higher RPMs (no heavy duty bearings, etc).

In a boat, 1,000 hours is about max for a gas engine before a rebuild. There is no direct correlation between engine hours and mileage, so I cannot say if that is equivalent to 100k miles or not. When we got rid of the boat, it had around 600hrs on the engines ~ over an 18yr time period.

I have heard 1,000 hours in a boat is equivalent to an engine life of around 50~75k miles in a vehicle. I have no idea whether or not that is accurate or not.

But in a RV, the V10 is probably only going to be at high RPM's only occasionally, not constantly as in a boat engine, so I would suspect it to last longer. How much the engine's life is shortened, if at all, probably depends on how much it is pushed at high RPMs.

Also, a major factor in engine failure in boats (and probably RVs as well) is only occasional use, combined with lack of proper maintenance and storage preparation. So I am sure there are more factors than just high RPMs.