Ford Triton V-10 engines before 2000

[shelly2koi]

Hi,

My trustworthy mechanic, tranny specialist told us that the Ford Triton V10's before the year 2000 had massive engine problems they blew pistons and ruined the engine.

have any of you ever heard of this?
This really cuts down on the amount of motorhomes to look at in our price range.

[shelly2koi]

Hi,

My trustworthy mechanic, tranny specialist told us that the Ford Triton V10's before the year 2000 had massive engine problems they blew pistons and ruined the engine.

have any of you ever heard of this?
This really cuts down on the amount of motorhomes to look at in our price range.

["007"]

Welcome to irv2 As a former owner of 3 Ford V-10's since 97 I found that the drive train was excellent an the engine very reliable. As long as the chassis is maintained faithfully, you could have minor problems. I have heard of spark plug blowing out, not what you have said. On two chassis I had the Banks sys an trans command installed. Not for better gas milage but for cooler engine operation an pulling power, better use of trans shifting.
The problem I had with the chassis was it could not carry the coachs I had on it. I added leaf springs on one an I installed a Air-Lift airbag sys on the other to support the coach. If I had a Ford problem which was very little, no trouble for service. I now have a W-22 WH. The ride is great, supports coach, an very quite with good power. Problems with shocks, CATS, now IP recall, service network very inconsistant, will go to GMC,Chev dealers before a RV dealer. There is alot of good MH's out there just look them over carefully. Good Luck in your adventure.---"007"

[Gary RVRoamer]

Yes, I've heard of it. There weren't all that many failures, but they got a lot of visability on the RV and Ford Truck web sites. Not surprising, since the bad engines literally self-destructed. The problem did not seem to be endemic to the early V10's and only a small percentage actually failed. As far as I know, Ford promptly replaced every one of them.

But overall the V10 has been a stout engine and I wouldn't worry much about buying a used one of pre-2000 vintage. By now, all that were going to fail have probably already done so.

[Gus Weber]

We have a 1998 on which we just passed 127,000 miles! No problems. Oil consumption is the same as when new (a quart at about 4500 miles) - we use the 5,000 mile change interval. At 100,000 I had the brake pads changed and the belt and hoses changed just to get it ready for the next 100,000 miles. BTW, the brake pads still had a bit of wear left on them. I think you are OK with a pre-2000 V-10; my friends who have them still swear by them.

Happy Trails

Gus Weber

[Toby]

We had the Ford V-10 on a 1999 35 Holiday Rambler, put over 30,000 miles on it and had zero trouble with the engine (picked it up in 11/1998). Got btwn 8 and 9 mpg and use about 1 qt of oil about every 1500 miles. Changed the oil less than 3000 miles each time. We now have the chevy 8.1L on a 36 ft HR and get betwn 7 and 7.5 mpg. The chevy is stronger and a little quiter. But the Allison does make noise in the low gears. The Ford's extra cooling fan scares you until you find out what makes all that reving noise when it gets warm. s/Toby

[Kirk]

We have a 98 Cruise Master on the early 99 Ford chassis with the 275hp V-10 and a full Banks system on it. We had the starter replaced under warranty, the aux. start solenoid replaced last spring for intermittant problems, and the pinion seal was replaced under warranty. Those are the total problems it has had and we have been fulltime in it since April of 2000. We have no plans to replace ours. In fact, we know of more problems with the newer versions. The only blown plugs we know about have been in the newer, higher compression version. But even they have not been a major problem.

[JimK]

Have a 98 Coachman class C and received 2 recall notices from Ford. Took it to the dealer and was told there was no recall on my vehicle. The next year while coming home from FL, the throttle stuck wide open while the wife was driving. As we passed through the rest area we had found, we were going too fast to make trhe turn at the end of the lot so I shut the motor off. Fortunately the next truck that pulled in had a driver who know how to break the throttle free.

Made it home, took it to the dealer who then sent us to Ford. While there we received a third recall which the dealer said did not apply to us but was for the problem we had experienced. We then called us back with the news that he had found why we had received the notices. Seeme Ford had the wrong vin # for us in their computers. There was a recall for class A campers but not C. Be aware of that condition if you have a C.

[Eddielee]

I have a '99 Jayco with a '98 Ford chassis. For some reason this year on our annual trip to AZ and back that V-10 used 2 qts of oil. Has 41K+ miles and I normally service it at the 2500-3000 mile mark. Let go to 5,000 on this trip - maybe it would have always used the 2 qts and I just never let it. That's been my only problem with the chassis --- now the motorhome, thats another story!

[Stan Birch]

>My trustworthy mechanic, tranny specialist told us that the Ford Triton V10's before the year 2000 had massive engine problems they blew pistons and ruined the engine.

I think your trustworthy mechanic is a tad mis-informed. With a '99 V10 that's performed flawlessly for the last 50,000 miles, I've been somewhat hyper-aware of the problems this engine might present; and so far, I've never encounterd so much as a single caveat of the nature your mechanic has described.

The only possibly related issue, might be the spark plug blow-out problem. A simple internet search will provide you with more info than you'd ever want to know about this particular anomaly. The best defence against spark-plug blow-out, seems to be to include ensuring your plugs are torqued to 18 ft lbs., as a routine part of annual maintenance.

Other than that, there are really no issues with this engine. Engineered to perform for some 450,000 miles; a number of V10 owners are now well past the 200,000 mile mark, without experiencing any kind of misadventure.

[Steve Val]

I put 38,000 trouble free miles on mine before we traded. I'd suggest that you not worry about what you've heard. The only problem that setup was prone to was in a heavy rain the intake would suck water and cause erratic running. Easy fix, though. If you're looking at any '99s now, they'll be taken care of. Good engine, IMO.

[KAAGEE]

We have a 1999 V10 from new..Love it for its quiteness and power..
We had to replace the engine (warranty) at 17000 miles as a connecting rod tried to leave the engine!! The replacement engine has performed well and does not use any oil between 3000 mile oil changes..
We also had to replace the alternator at 27000 and 45000 miles because of rear bearing failure...Anyone else have Alternator bearing problem?

[neilnbe]

I have a V-10 in a 99 F250 that I bought in early 98, we regularly pulled a travel traler (been up and down the east coast quite a few times) so far outside of regular maint. I've only replaced the alternator at 85k miles. Now it has 160k on it and so far it's still going strong. Maybe your mechanic only works on Chevys.

[Rainbow]

Have a '99 Georgetown 325S with the v-10. In 62,000 miles have replaced one o2 sensor. That's a lot better than I can say for several previous MHs with GM engines. Have been coast to coast and border to border with the v-10 and always performed well to get us wherever we wanted to go. Change oil every 3000 miles and never need to add between. I'd like to get a new one one of these days and have driven the WH w-22 and the new 06 Ford. I think based on my experience and the ride, I'll opt for the Ford. Wife says must sell the '99 before can get serious about a new one. It can be seen at: http://www.irv2.com/class/showproduct.php?product=645&sort=2&cat=2&page=1