My wife and I have started looking at used Motorhomes and some of the older ones have the Ford 460 V8. How good is this engine? Will they go 150k miles in a motorhome?

Thanks

Bill

 

we got 248,000 outta our 87 1ton that had a camper in the back and pulled a boat most of its life. About 15 years worth. And it didnt sit alot. One day the bearings just started goin bad so we put a rebuild in it, and it has 290k on the body c6 trans and dana 44s. I would say its a gas hog for sure! But it is definitally a lasting powerful motor.

 

the only time i've ever seen a 460 go up under 150000 miles was at 144000 and the guy never serviced the cooling system, the corrosive coolant ate the head gaskets. awesome motor. that or the v10 IMO are the 2 best choices for motorhome. my grandparents own one with a v10 and for the size that thing hauls serious ****, the v10 really impresses me in how well it pulls.

 

What size motorhome? Class C or Class A? I've had 3 of them in Class C, E-350 MH's They are a terrific engine but you have to remember, a MH engine NEVER gets a rest. It's hauling it's load 100% of it's life. I would say not to count on 150K mi. for the aforementioned reasons. You might get it, but I wouldn't count on it. Open road isn't so bad. Pulling a lot of hills if you live in the west where there are a lot of 'em, not so good. I'm a Ford man, but the MH I have now is a 32 ft. with a Chev. chassis and a 454 which will pull better on a long grind than the 460, but the 454 will probably blow up in about 1/3 of the miles of a 460. The 460's that I have had just keep lugging but won't make it over the top as quick as a 454.

 

The motorhome we looked at Saturday was a 1994 34' class A Damon. It had 46k miles on it. The exterior is not faded and looks good. Interior looks ok for its age. Evidently the engine is carbureted because when started cold a lot of unburned gasoline came out the exhaust. Would this engine be computer controlled or is it just carbureted with mechanical and vacuum advance? The dealer only wants $7,493 for the MH. Looks like a great deal. I realize that this model is not one of the most expensive brands.

I've also seen for sale class C MHs on a Ford chassis and 460 V8. I haven't been to look at them yet though.

Thanks for the responses guys. I figured the Ford engine would be good but I did not have any personal info on it. I'm not sure I'm ready to make the jump, but I am enjoying looking right now. I'm close to retirement age and I have this dream of touring the country in my motorhome. I'm a decent shadetree mechanic and I'm not looking to buy new.

 

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Something wrong there. They went to fuel injection in I believe about '89 in the 460. I think it was throttle body and I honestly don't know if they ever went to port injection as long as they had the 460 or if it was throttle body to the end. I can tell you one thing, with a 34' the 460 isn't going to scream up the hills, it's more like gonna crawl up them. Don't expect any real mileage out of it either. I would say flat land maybe 5-6 if you're lucky at 60 MPH. I would check and make sure it doesn't have carb. because it might indicate that someone put a used older engine in it or it was built on a chassis that was a number of years old when they built it.

 

multi port injection from 88 up on 460c.i. little tlc can make some very nice gains in power and economy open up exhaust and intakes
degree cam helps as well
Mitch

 

I used to have a 1988 Ford E150 Window van and I knew that 88 was the first year for the 351 Windsor engine to get FI. But, I didn't know anything about the 460. If it has fuel injection, it must not have catalytic converters because starting cold it put out some strong exhaust just like the old cars with carbs. But, if it has FI, that's good news. The engine should last longer. Will have a computer to deal with.

 

My aunt had one in an old 70 something thunderbird . Thing had the longest hood I have ever seen. I think my aunt put about 300,000 miles on that thing... Used to leak oil though

 

Old Motor homes with very low miles should be avoided. They sometimes sit for years and the basically just rot. My uncle has one that been sitting for 10 years the thing is beautiful but I wouldnt touch it. The city came by and made him move it. He got a battery for it and it wouldnt start the fuel pump went out. He had to replace all the belts and i'm sure all the hoses are bad and who knows what else. Some old folks get them use them a few time then they sit until they die. Kids sell them and the guy who buys them get a huge headache.

 

I know what you are saying. This particular one is very low cost and will probably require a lot of maintenance/ repairs to get it reliable. If I had the time, I think it would be fun getting it back to good running order.

 

Jethat is right. I wouldn't wanna buy anything that has sat for a long period of time. Sitting's harder on a vehicle than driving it everyday all day.

From what I've seen from a 460 I'm pretty impressed and think they're pretty durable. One of my friends has an 84 F250 wood truck that never leaves his property. So #1 the thing never runs for more than a couple mins at a time so it doesn't ever really get up to operating temperature which isn't good for an engine. #2 Every time he starts it there's no "warm up" time, its full throttle and slam it into gear since it's carbed and it'd stall. The oil in that engine looks like it came straight from a swamp, I've never seen anything quite so dirty. But the truck still runs great. Engine doesn't make a sound.

About 2 months ago he sold it to one of our friends who says he's gonna restore it. He lives about 7 miles away from where the truck was and he said he was just gonna drive it to his house. This truck hasn't been out of 2nd gear for almost a decade mind you. So he jumps in the truck and goes down the road with me followin him and that 460 seemed to run without any glitches. He jumped on it a few times and it'd spin tire and it'd get up and go without a problem.

I don't have any personal experience with a 460 but I wouldn't think twice about buyin one after seein what all that trucks been through.

 

JH- a guy about a block from me bought a new Fleetwood Pace Arrow with tag axle (looked like about a 35' at least, maybe more) with everything but the kitchen sink (nah, I guess it had that too ) in about '90, I believe. He's a fire chief (retired now) so he could afford it. He traded it on a new MH about 1 1/2 years ago. He put the jacks down front and back so pretty much all the weight was on the jacks and none on the tires and the plates on the jacks sunk so far into his asphalt driveway (he has cement now) that you couldn't see them. Except for every 2 years that it was gone for the day having the smog check, I only saw that MH gone a total of about 8-10 days in that 17 years. I don't see how he could have had 1000 mi. on it. It literally rotted away in his driveway. He bought a new MH (type that is mounted on about a 2-3 ton Chevy truck chassis) and that thing has set in the driveway the entire time since he bought it. No indication they ever use a MH! Never have seen anyone near it or the door ever open.