v10 Thor Hurricane 34R

[1Hurricane]

What can I do to upgrade performance and get better gas mileage? I am also pulling a Jeep Liberty, at 60, 65 on average getting 6 mpg. I keep hearing about the 5 star turner, I know Banks power system gets some good, but the investment my not be worth the cost for installing it prorating that the savings over the miles I travel per year. Is all that worth it? I would like to get better gas mileage. Thanks for any advice...

[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.

[TheCatsRV]

The Banks exhaust (have the full system in an '07 Coachmen Mirada) will give you more power but unless you have a very gentle right foot, you can also use a lot more fuel. More power is the only rationale for Banks.


5 Star tuner, I have no experience with (Banks supplies a less-sophisticated version called AutoMind/OttoMind in the full package) but my understanding is that among its main benefits is to prevent throttle downshift (may or may not be stressful to engine and transmission).



As for vacuum gauge, nice to have but one can (at least in an '06 chassis) feel how much vacuum is being pulled by the firmness of the throttle pedal. Softer it is, lower the vacuum, as is firmer the throttle higher the vacuum. You ca feel an inflection point between high and low vacuum. Get a feel for the throttle with engine off and then you can feel it with engine on.

[triplewide]

Slow down 2 miles per hour and your mileage will improve considerably.
6 mpg sounds a bit low, 6.5 -7.5 when towing would be more like what I experience at 65 MPH. Mountain travel will be lower. My coach is very similar to yours. 36' V10.


What year is yours? Have you checked tire pressures, air filter to engine? May just need some service if an older unit. May need injectors cleaned or replaced, etc.



Never had Banks or 5 Star on any coaches. Never felt they were worth the money. I would rather spend my RV allowance on upgrades that make using the coach better. Things like electronics, furniture, navigation, air conditioning, etc.

[1Hurricane]

Originally Posted by triplewide

Slow down 2 miles per hour and your mileage will improve considerably.
6 mpg sounds a bit low, 6.5 -7.5 when towing would be more like what I experience at 65 MPH. Mountain travel will be lower. My coach is very similar to yours. 36' V10.


What year is yours? Have you checked tire pressures, air filter to engine? May just need some service if an older unit. May need injectors cleaned or replaced, etc.



Never had Banks or 5 Star on any coaches. Never felt they were worth the money. I would rather spend my RV allowance on upgrades that make using the coach better. Things like electronics, furniture, navigation, air conditioning, etc.

the year is 2019, I always check the tire presser to keep it right on before any trip I go on. the mileage is 8000. air filter is in good clean condition. I am going to check on installing a cold air intake and see what I get with that. This is my 5th rv coach. 1st one was a chevy 454 engine, got 10 mpg, 2 ford v10s both getting around 8 and 9 mpg. Marcedes-Benz diesel getting 14 to 18 mpg.

[twinboat]

Originally Posted by TheCatsRV

The Banks exhaust (have the full system in an '07 Coachmen Mirada) will give you more power but unless you have a very gentle right foot, you can also use a lot more fuel. More power is the only rationale for Banks.


5 Star tuner, I have no experience with (Banks supplies a less-sophisticated version called AutoMind/OttoMind in the full package) but my understanding is that among its main benefits is to prevent throttle downshift (may or may not be stressful to engine and transmission).



As for vacuum gauge, nice to have but one can (at least in an '06 chassis) feel how much vacuum is being pulled by the firmness of the throttle pedal. Softer it is, lower the vacuum, as is firmer the throttle higher the vacuum. You ca feel an inflection point between high and low vacuum. Get a feel for the throttle with engine off and then you can feel it with engine on.

The throttles are electronic, fly by wire, on Ford V-10s. There is no " Feeling " in them.

[EdInArk]

6 mpg seems awfully low to me.

We averaged 8 mpg on our 30' ACE, and it didn't seem to matter whether we were pulling our RAV4 or not. As a matter of fact, our best mileage ever came while pulling the RAV4, and the worst while not pulling it. For us, wind and weather conditions made a lot more difference.

My wife used it a lot while I wasn't along and consistently got better mileage by simply driving 5 mph slower. I'd refuse to use cruise control, coast down hills, try to manage the throttle to avoid downshifting, etc. And she'd use cruise and just let it wind it's little heart out and get better mileage.

[1Hurricane]

I hope on trying something with that v10 Hurricane engine to get better gas mileage with the way gas prices are across the country. Thanks for all your helping me.

[TXiceman]

Increased performance and better fuel economy are two opposites. To get more power from the engine and better performance, it takes more fuel and air. By improving air flow and reducing any restrictions, you can make a marginal improvement if efficiency on an engine. The manufacturers have pretty much balanced the engine for the best performance and fuel economy with the emission standards enforced on them.

The best thing to get better fuel economy is slow down. We have found that generally we keep the speed to no more than 62 to 65 mph.

Ken

[EdInArk]

Originally Posted by 1Hurricane

I hope on trying something with that v10 Hurricane engine to get better gas mileage with the way gas prices are across the country. Thanks for all your helping me.

I'm curious how often you've checked your mileage. Our lowest was 5.31 in heavy headwinds, and our best was 10.13 in moderate weather on level ground. If you've only checked it a time or two you may have inadvertently chosen some of the worst times. Check if over several tanks to get a feel for what it's actually doing. From my experience, we averaged 8.06 over about 33,000 miles. That's every mile we drove divided by every gallon it took to do it.

Also what are your diving habits. Do you set the cruise on 70 and boogie on, or do you run a little more conservatively? As I said earlier my wife could be me by 1/2 to a full mpg by just driving 5 mph slower. At the end of the day you may take a few minutes longer slowing down.

[schneid811]

Originally Posted by 1Hurricane

What can I do to upgrade performance and get better gas mileage? I am also pulling a Jeep Liberty, at 60, 65 on average getting 6 mpg. I keep hearing about the 5 star turner, I know Banks power system gets some good, but the investment my not be worth the cost for installing it prorating that the savings over the miles I travel per year. Is all that worth it? I would like to get better gas mileage. Thanks for any advice...

62mph on cruise control = 1800 to 200o RPM = 8.0mpg towing a Demco dolly and Toyota Corolla. We have 69K miles and that is the "happy spot" for our coach. Yours may vary also. Always buy 87 Octane regular gas.
That is my 2 cents.

[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!

[Beau388]

Originally Posted by 1Hurricane

What can I do to upgrade performance and get better gas mileage? I am also pulling a Jeep Liberty, at 60, 65 on average getting 6 mpg. I keep hearing about the 5 star turner, I know Banks power system gets some good, but the investment my not be worth the cost for installing it prorating that the savings over the miles I travel per year. Is all that worth it? I would like to get better gas mileage. Thanks for any advice...

You can change the coach's weight, speed, engine performance and the rolling resistance (somewhat), but you can not change the vehicles aerodynamics or the Triton engine's efficiency. 5 Star tuner greatly increase the efficiency of the shifting profile of the 6R140 transmission, making the shift more crisp in up-shifts and early downshift when decelerating. There is a slight increase in performance with a small decrease in fuel mileage, probably because of the crisper throttle and higher horse power at full throttle. The 5 star tuner is worth the money but is not the answer in increasing engine's efficiency. The Triton engine's efficiency was all designed into the engine by the Ford engineering department. No tuner can make a measurable increase in engine efficiency.

[1Hurricane]

Maybe I should say to get a more efficient engine results for gas mileage,then to use the term performance. I am just wanting to increase the gas mileage. THANKS...