Community Forums

Hemi · 06-24-2005, 03:09 PM

Hello, my brother in CA is considering to buy a class C with ford V-10. Can anyone confirm that the new ford chassis with V-10 has the improved transmission and possibly improved V-10 According to my brother some motor homes with ford (including powerstroke) earlier than 2005 suffered from sort of tranny problem. Also, how does the new powerstroke perform?

Any help on this would be appreciated. Iver D ("Hemi")

Hemi · 06-24-2005, 03:09 PM

Hello, my brother in CA is considering to buy a class C with ford V-10. Can anyone confirm that the new ford chassis with V-10 has the improved transmission and possibly improved V-10 According to my brother some motor homes with ford (including powerstroke) earlier than 2005 suffered from sort of tranny problem. Also, how does the new powerstroke perform?

Any help on this would be appreciated. Iver D ("Hemi")

CoastalDav · 07-29-2005, 06:28 AM

This reply is somewhat late in date to your post.

The powerstroke has been improved since its debut serveral years ago, from what I've heard.

The V-10 may still be prone to breaking camshafts later in life. My daughter's excursion broke a camshaft last yeare.$ 7,000.00 repair, not covered. While in the shop, there were two more V-10's in for the same thing.

If you going Gas power, you might consider the 500 cu in Chevy motor. Its seems to be doing real good in some of the larger gas powered motor homes.

Dave

Stan Birch · 07-29-2005, 09:27 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Hemi:
According to my brother some motor homes with ford (including powerstroke) earlier than 2005 suffered from sort of tranny problem. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Depends on how much earlier!

While the old pre-1999 E40D wasn't all that reliable; the new 4R100 introduced along with the V-10, with improved lubrication and cooling, has enjoyed an excellent track record. The only glitch with the 4R100, was during the first year or so, with the elimination of a integral radiator cooler in favour of the up-front air-only cooler. While the concept worked for the most part, it wasn't quite up to snuff for big honkin' 38' class A rigs hauling 4000 lbs of toad up mountains in 100+ degree south west temperatures.

For smaller rigs in temperate climates, the lack of integral radiator cooler really hasn't been an issue. On my tiny 32' rig, immediately after ascending the most demanding multi-mile 12 to 18% grade I've ever undertaken, on a hot summer afternoon; a scan of the tranny revealed nothing exceeding a mere 195 degrees.

Our aging 4R100 has continued to perform flawlessly over the past 7 years and 60,000 miles; often under the most extreme conditions.

Whenever you hear of tranny failures, such anecdotes are never accompanied by so much as an hourable mention of the pre-failure maintenance routine which lead to the failure!

For me, standard annual maintenance routine **always** includes a tranny sump-dump 'n fill; nothwithstanding that the tranny fluid is still always a bright pink. So the whole effort boils down to a simple $20 (CDN) decision in an effort to ward off a $5,000+ decision.

When it comes to selecting tranny fluid (or any other vehicle fluid), I always gravitate toward the very cheapest stuff I can find, that conforms to manufacturer specs, which usually means Wal-Mart. I've yet to see a scintilla of evidence to suppport the hypothesis, that anything more expensive is in any way superior to the cheap stuff.

Toby · 07-31-2005, 10:57 AM

Stan
hate to change the subject, but what is a sump dump and refill and what is involved. I have the Chevy 8.1 with the Allison 5 spd. Does it involve dropping the pan and etc? I'm like you, I prefer to do it myself, if I can s/Toby

DriVer · 07-31-2005, 02:01 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Toby:
I have the Chevy 8.1 with the Allison 5 spd. Does it involve dropping the pan and etc? I'm like you, I prefer to do it myself, if I can. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Toby, You can drop the pan on the Allison and drain the final quart of fluid out of the pan but if you're serious about changing your fluid do it once! You can re-use the pan gasket by the way if you want to do this yourself. Make sure you have the right torque value for the pan bolts, it isn't much at all "in/lbs". What you can't do is drain the converter.

If you were to take your MH to an Regional Center called a DDA or Detroit Diesel Allison, in my case it was Atlantic DDA, they will power flush the transmission including all the fluid contained in the torque converter. The filter is changed at this time also, it's a spin on unit.

Once you're done this procedure you should be good to go!