My brother is looking at buying a 97 Fleetwood RV. It has uses the ford chassis with a 460. He's been trying to get info on the reliability of the 460, how it's held up over the years, any serious problems that kind of stuff. Also any info on the performance in a big rig like this. Any help or info is appreciated.

 

From what I have read on this site and my experience with my 94 460 with 80K+ on it, these engines last pretty much forever if you do normal maintenance.

I recall some comments about manifolds cracking and a couple cases of the timing chain wearing out. But from what I understand in normal use you can easily expect 200K miles from these engines.

I tow an 8,000# trailer and have probably put 15 to 20K miles on it with a total of over 80K miles. Not a bit of trouble other than the spark plugs do seem to get stuck tight if you don't clean the threads and use antisieze. The truck is in the Pacific North WET, so maybe moisture is my problem with the plugs.

One other problem I have had is that the exhaust flange/cone warps on the right side. I replaced the Y pipe at the dealer, $600, yeow, should have bought stainelss tube headers for just a little more. Or I should have let a muffler shop cut the flange off and weld another on for $80. It sounds like I am getting the same problem again after about 30K miles or so. I have read that the 460 does put out a lot of exhaust heat especially when towing.

I also found the 460 to be very snesitive to clogged fuel filters. Change them regularly. A fuel filter with more than 50K is way too old and should be changed, takes maybe 5 minutes to do. The performance improvement is quite amazing, especially when the filter slowly degrades and you don'[t notice the decrease in performance.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

We had one of these in an earlier model it was ok if you stayed out of the mountains in the mountains due to altitude it didn't have enough hp to get the job done. The motors are pretty much bullet proof the transmissions are another story the one we had had a c6 and it wasn't strong enough for the size rig we had. So the bottom line is where are you going in this rig and how heavy is it going to be loaded. A large turboed diesel with an exteme duty transmission is what is need for extended North American touring.
Ps we traded it off in Florida due to tranny failure and came home in a power stroke Diesel with a 30 foot fifth wheel I like it a whole lot better pulls the mountains without issues.

 

Hi Vito,

I own a 95 Fleetwwod Bounder with EFI 460. Good motor, runs great since I installed the full Banks exhaust system. Weak E4OD transmission. Make sure and install something to make it shift firmer, like the Banks Transcomander. Plan on breaking exhaust manifold bolts if the original manifolds are still in place. When it comes time for a lube job, there is a grease zerk on the front of the steering box.

Richard

 

Thanks guys for the info. He plans on driving it out west to Vegas and spend about a month living in it. Then go somewhere else in the southwest or Florida for another month. All to get away from the New England winters.