Hello,

My secondary Ford vehicle is a 1997 motorhome on an E450 chassis with a Triton V10 engine (has about 62,000mi on the odo). I am trying to find some more information about how well a V10 can handle idling.

As background, I have an RV blog and I mentioned recently that I occasionally (a total of about 10 hours per month) idle the engine to use the alternator to charge my house batteries on days when the conditions are too grey for optimum solar charging. I immediately got replies that I was going to prematurely kill my engine, that it was going to blow up, that I was going to wear out parts, that I was going through 10 gallons of fuel an hour (that was hilariously wrong), etc.

I know the V10 is used in service vehicles (buses, ambulances), which tend to idle a lot more than what I'm doing and still provides a long and fairly trouble free life.

The problem is, I can't find any concrete stats to back up that last statement. I've spent a few hours looking for the word from Ford or other reputable V10 experts, but all I find are forums like these where users say what I just said above. So I guess my question is, where does this opinion come from and is it valid?

Thanks,

Rae

 

As with anything, these moving parts wear out eventually. Idling 10 hours per month and barely driving it is less damaging than driving it daily to and from work for most people (in my opinion). As long as you keep a regular maintenance schedule, it should last longer than other V10s out there that is driven daily.

As far as charging your batteries, do you have access to shore power. That may be a better way to keep your batteries charged. You use less gas.

 

Thanks for that reply. I average about 4,000mi a year with the motorhome (I tend to park it and then do my running around and exploring with my Ranger).

I spend most of my time 'boondocking' (living off the grid) with a solar panel. It was working great until my power requirements increased slightly. I'll be getting an additional solar panel in a few months and am using idling as a short-term measure to keep the batteries topped up on grey days.

The additional panel will be $400, a generator is at least $1,000 plus so much for gas, and idling was $15 (for a continuous duty solenoid) + $3.50ish an hour (assuming that I burn one gallon an hour, a figure I've seen thrown around for the V10). Idling seems to give me the best bang for my buck to get the 5 to 10AH I'm short on in overcast conditions, at least in the short-term.

I keep on top of all my maintenance, watch the oil levels, etc. I suspect that engine will outlive the house part of the rig.

Thanks again,

Rae

 

I have a Champion 2000 inverter type generator for a little under $500 from Costco. A gallon of gas can run 8 hours or so on a light load charging the batteries. It's pretty quiet. You don't need to spend $1k for the Honda or Yamaha.

Just giving you some options if you don't want to idle the motorhome just to charge the batteries.

 

I know we're getting seriously off topic here, but is it as quiet as the Honda models? Looking at the prices, it might be worth forgetting the second solar panel and going with that instead.

Rae

 

I too would prefer a generator but if you have to idle the motorhome, I would idle it at a higher rpm probably in the 1500-1800 range.

 

Sent you a visitors message as we are going off topic.

 

How the heck does one idle in higher RPM other than sitting in the front seat with the foot on the gas peddle for an hour?

 

High Idle switch. Our v10 bucket trucks at work have them on them.

 

Oh, so it's something that could be added on? Why idle at high RPM rather than low?

Rae

 

At low idle your engine never comes up to proper operating temp. When the idle is faster the oil and coolant come up to temp and the engine lasts longer and I would think there would be less carbon build up.

 

Thanks for this info. Another reason to get a tach installed.

Rae

 

Your alternator provides a more charging out put at high idle as well.

 

Higher output would be good. If the batteries are low, then I get about 20A, but as soon as the batteries are closer to 90%, I only get 6A, so it's not even worth idling.

Rae