Community Forums

1Hurricane · 12-14-2022, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beau388

Assuming you have a restrictive,
hot air intake and replace it with a K& N intake, you are going to increase the usable oxygen in the air at 3/4 throttle and above. At part throttle the engine has all the air it can use. More oxygen means the engines computer will add more fuel to keep the engine at the desired fuel/air ratio.
Unless you have a carburetor instead of sequential fuel injection, putting more air into the engine will result in more power and more fuel usage. In the case of a carburetor, it tends to run rich when the air intake is restricted. Removing the air cleaner and piping in cold air will lean out the engine and result in beater fuel mileage.
With a computer controlled fuel injection engine the computer manages the fuel/air radio regardless of what you do the the intake or exhaust.

Governmental corporate fuel mileage restrictions cause the engine manufacturers to squeeze every hundredth of a mile/gallon out of each tankful of fuel. They even discount the purchase price of high fuel mileage vehicles in order to produce desirable gas guzzlers vehicles and still keep the corporate fuel mileage above the required minimum.
Yes you buy a tuner or chip (in older vehicles) that use different fuel/air ratio tables and different ignition advance tables, but all will give more power and use more fuel and usually get poorer fuel mileage.
Your left foot is the only cheap, readily available device to increase your fuel mileage.

CURIOUS, with all your comments, what type rv rig engine and mileage you get? And any modifications. Thanks...

1Hurricane · 12-14-2022, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flyer15015

Those all sound like something you could do as a DIY project.
Skip the TB spacer though.
I'll catch a lot of crap for this, but have you considered swapping the ring and pinion for a lower #? I did on our '07 Jayco Seneca class C because the inner pinion bearing went out, so we had to pull it anyway. I just had the shop go 2 numbers down. That old Duramax LBZ never knew the difference. Speedo was 6 MPH under actual, and I kind of had to watch it in town. Took a bit more math to calculate milage, but it went up with the same driving habits.

Mike in Colorado

Thanks, for rear end comment, I am looking into that as well..

1Hurricane · 12-14-2022, 07:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobphoenix

My Coachman had a Ford V-10 Triton in the f53 chassis and my toad was a Jeep Patriot.
I was pulling down between 9 -11 MPG with the toad and nearly 14 mpg without.

Yes, you could go with a Banks system for somewhere starting around $6500, at that you're only reducing your consumption by about 2-3 MPG... So, it would take about 1600 gallons of gas at $4/ gal. or, about 20 full tanks to recover the cost. When you divide that cost by the cost of gas over the length of ownership, is it really worth it...?

What I did with my rig was to install a vacuum gage that reads the plus/neg vacuum in the manifold. When the engine was at idle, I was pulling nearly -20Hg of vacuum... when I was at full throttle (going up a 7% hill, for instance...) it would read nearly +2Hg (Absolutely no vacuum at all and literally pouring buckets of fuel into the cylinders!)

What I tried to do was to keep the needle around -10 to -8Hg of vacuum at about 65 MPH and make sure I didn't make any erratic moves on the accelerator to make the needle move too far from that position. (Sometime you can't help it on hills, bridges and the like...) Also, when the gage would hit -4Hg, the trans would shift into a higher gear, so I knew where to keep the accelerator to keep from shifting...

But, really, the steadier you can keep the needle to maintain the highest vacuum is where you can really increase your mileage.

Over the 22 years of talking to ford V10 RV owners you are the only one That got 14 mpg, The best I ever got was 12...

1Hurricane · 12-14-2022, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mijjil

We got a 5Star Tuning package for our 2017 Thor Vegas 25.5 (Ford E-450 chassis, Triton V10 engine) - https://5startuning.com/product/7015fs/ - and are incredibly happy with the results. No more pointless double-downshifts going up (or down) relatively shallow hills, a much better shifting profile overall, engine runs at lower RPMs but the HP and torque are up. Can't recommend it highly enough!

Glade to hear you are happy with the 5star, but, how is your mpg? Every one talks about the great shifting, no one says anything about gas mileage improvement if any...Let me know how yours is...THANKS...

ChrisDParise · 12-16-2022, 08:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1Hurricane

Every one talks about the great shifting, no one says anything about gas mileage improvement if any...Let me know how yours is...THANKS...

I can't remember which, Banks or 5 Star, websites, claimed an increase in mpg on their 3 valve V10 Class A. I thought it was pretty well documented.

Have you checked that out?

I am not hunting for better gas mileage myself but do believe driving habits and terrain are the biggest factors after good maintenance.

Once I realize better performance with a tune, knowing me, my inclination will be to step on the gas a little more to see what the tune can do and that's going to waste gas not save gas.

I may end up with a lighter foot eventually

1Hurricane · 12-16-2022, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisDParise

I can't remember which, Banks or 5 Star, websites, claimed an increase in mpg on their 3 valve V10 Class A. I thought it was pretty well documented.

Have you checked that out?

I am not hunting for better gas mileage myself but do believe driving habits and terrain are the biggest factors after good maintenance.

Once I realize better performance with a tune, knowing me, my inclination will be to step on the gas a little more to see what the tune can do and that's going to waste gas not save gas.

I may end up with a lighter foot eventually

Yes, I have looked at banks, and 5star, still researching Products...

1Hurricane · 12-18-2022, 01:32 PM

Yes, Of course, I will do one modification at a time, then check out the results. I have came across a person who installed a electric radiator fan with some mpg improvement..I am looking into that as well.

twinboat · 12-18-2022, 02:40 PM

Add up the costs of any MPG improvement expenses and calculate the return of investment.

You dont want to spend more $$ then you save in MPG increases.

Sent from my SM-A025V using iRV2 - RV Forum mobile app

1Hurricane · 12-19-2022, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twinboat

Add up the costs of any MPG improvement expenses and calculate the return of investment.

You dont want to spend more $$ then you save in MPG increases.

Sent from my SM-A025V using iRV2 - RV Forum mobile app

5000 divide by 6 mpg = 833 gallons X $3.95 = $3291.00
5000 divide by lets say 10 mpg = 500 gallons X $3.95 = $1975.

Ah, savings of $1316.00,,, One trip could pay for UPGRADES.

ChrisDParise · 12-21-2022, 07:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1Hurricane

5000 divide by 6 mpg = 833 gallons X $3.95 = $3291.00
5000 divide by lets say 10 mpg = 500 gallons X $3.95 = $1975.

Ah, savings of $1316.00,,, One trip could pay for UPGRADES.

We are looking forward to hearing from you in the future on your progress and quest for 10 mpg

1Hurricane · 12-23-2022, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisDParise

We are looking forward to hearing from you in the future on your progress and quest for 10 mpg

I am trying to see what I can do to improve the V10 mpg...I will keep posting what I find out to get better millage. There is aftermarket products to do just that. I will try some of them... I am finding most of the V10 upgrades are from pickup truck guys...most RV'ers seams to just look at the 5 star tuners or the Banks stages.....OR they say to drive slower....Thanks for watching my posts...

1Hurricane · 12-25-2022, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mijjil

We got a 5Star Tuning package for our 2017 Thor Vegas 25.5 (Ford E-450 chassis, Triton V10 engine) - https://5startuning.com/product/7015fs/ - and are incredibly happy with the results. No more pointless double-downshifts going up (or down) relatively shallow hills, a much better shifting profile overall, engine runs at lower RPMs but the HP and torque are up. Can't recommend it highly enough!

That is grate, but my question is referring to find after market products to improve MPG. I am not to sold on the 5star V10 owners reviews.

ChrisDParise · 12-26-2022, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1Hurricane

I am trying to see what I can do to improve the V10 mpg...I will keep posting what I find out to get better millage. There is aftermarket products to do just that. I will try some of them... I am finding most of the V10 upgrades are from pickup truck guys...most RV'ers seams to just look at the 5 star tuners or the Banks stages.....OR they say to drive slower....Thanks for watching my posts...

But you know driving slower will automatically get you better gas mileage, right?

1Hurricane · 12-26-2022, 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisDParise

But you know driving slower will automatically get you better gas mileage, right?

Yes, driving slower is a way to save mpg. If you have read my other posts you can see my RV's I have had and the years of traveling in them...just trying to see if any one has done something I may have missed to improve mpg, other than to drive slower or get a tuner, Banks system....