millie Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 hi looking for advice towing seems to be going really well 3rd attempt however my temperature gauge shoots up for no reason not all the time but on occasions travelled over 70 miles then it decided to rise very high changed gear and it dropped bacjk to normal maybe i am not in the right gear any advice by the way im not driving oh is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truckerprof Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 hi looking for advice towing seems to be going really well 3rd attempt however my temperature gauge shoots up for no reason not all the time but on occasions travelled over 70 miles then it decided to rise very high changed gear and it dropped bacjk to normal maybe i am not in the right gear any advice by the way im not driving oh is Hi Millie, It sounds as though you are in too low a gear with too many revs, have you checked the vehicle to unit weight ratio? Your unit may be too heavy, tyre pressures must be correct for towing, they are usually different from normal running. good luck Quote Kia Carens 2. 0 petrol towing 2005 Adria 432 px Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean c Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 Also get your engine thermosat checked out, they can stick and release. Or your cooling fan may not be cutting in at the right temp. In a real emergency to aviod engine damage when this happens put the heater on full hot in order to get yourself a short!! distance off the road to safety. I must stress a short distance. Good luck Quote Bailey s5 Senator Carolina + Ford Ranger Double Cab + VFR800Fiw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millie Posted April 14, 2009 Author Share Posted April 14, 2009 Also get your engine thermosat checked out, they can stick and release. Or your cooling fan may not be cutting in at the right temp. In a real emergency to aviod engine damage when this happens put the heater on full hot in order to get yourself a short!! distance off the road to safety. I must stress a short distance. Good luck thanks both the car and van has been matched so that should be okay maybe as you said the revs and gear was not right hopefully that is all it is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chillypenguin Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 What car (inc engine size/fuel) are you towing with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millie Posted April 14, 2009 Author Share Posted April 14, 2009 What car (inc engine size/fuel) are you towing with? 2 litre deisel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianI Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 2 litre deisel If you tell us what car and what caravan (make/type/weight) you have, it might help to get the right advice Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Futsal1st Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 Hi Millie,It sounds as though you are in too low a gear with too many revs. .. I think he is in too tall a gear (maybe even overdrive) and laboring the engine. You need to keep the engine reving freely and not force it to stay in a high gear or overdrive which result in over heating and increase fuel usage. I drive a 3. 2 diesel and when I see a hill coming I change down a gear and maintain a slightly slower road speed. This results in less engine load, cooler running and less fuel usage. Its worth experimenting with it a little to find the right compromise of gearing and speed for the conditions. Good luck with it. Quote Tottering around the country side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millie Posted April 15, 2009 Author Share Posted April 15, 2009 I think he is in too tall a gear (maybe even overdrive) and laboring the engine. You need to keep the engine reving freely and not force it to stay in a high gear or overdrive which result in over heating and increase fuel usage. I drive a 3. 2 diesel and when I see a hill coming I change down a gear and maintain a slightly slower road speed. This results in less engine load, cooler running and less fuel usage. Its worth experimenting with it a little to find the right compromise of gearing and speed for the conditions. Good luck with it. he has a mondeo 2. 0 tdi with a bailey paegent provence spoke to the garage today they are going to check the fan and the thermometer to make sure its not sticking thanks everyone for your advice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 We tow a Pageant Bretagne (MTPLM 1430kg I think) with a Mondeo MK 4 2. 0tdci estate and have had no issues with temperature. When cruising I aim to keep the revs between 2000-2250rpm so the turbo is on boost and the engine isn't labouring(increase to about 3000rpm when changing up a gear to keep the turbo on song in the next gear). HTH Ted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeandoona Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 hi looking for advice towing seems to be going really well 3rd attempt however my temperature gauge shoots up for no reason not all the time but on occasions travelled over 70 miles then it decided to rise very high changed gear and it dropped bacjk to normal maybe i am not in the right gear any advice by the way im not driving oh is HI, good for you to check this out. First of all you don't mention if it's a manual or auto. Auto's usually have the low gear selector for towing to prevent going into overdrive and labouring the engine. A rule of thumb is you should be at 2,500 to 3,500 revs when towing and of course, never go over the legal limit of 60mph on motorways, 50 on dual carriageways etc. Assuming all that is as expected, did you check your water levels in the rad? sounds silly but can cause heat surges if towing that don't show when driving. Finally and also sounds silly but worth checking, are you sure your rad is in good conditionl, with no holes. I had a recent spate of overheating when towing only, the extra load caused a slight rise in temperature that was enough to exploit an unknown weakness in the rad and on the third trip like this. ...rad went. AA man confirmed that I might have gone thousands more miles without towing but any additional load adds heat to the water and if there is a weakness it goes. So do check it, especially under the engine where you can't see it. Other than that, make sure you are not in too high a gear at low revs or to low a gear at high revs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millie Posted April 16, 2009 Author Share Posted April 16, 2009 HI, good for you to check this out. First of all you don't mention if it's a manual or auto. Auto's usually have the low gear selector for towing to prevent going into overdrive and labouring the engine. A rule of thumb is you should be at 2,500 to 3,500 revs when towing and of course, never go over the legal limit of 60mph on motorways, 50 on dual carriageways etc. Assuming all that is as expected, did you check your water levels in the rad? sounds silly but can cause heat surges if towing that don't show when driving. Finally and also sounds silly but worth checking, are you sure your rad is in good conditionl, with no holes. I had a recent spate of overheating when towing only, the extra load caused a slight rise in temperature that was enough to exploit an unknown weakness in the rad and on the third trip like this. ...rad went. AA man confirmed that I might have gone thousands more miles without towing but any additional load adds heat to the water and if there is a weakness it goes. So do check it, especially under the engine where you can't see it. Other than that, make sure you are not in too high a gear at low revs or to low a gear at high revs. hi leeandoona thanks for that suprisingly we have a new rad on the car which is only a few weeks old so garage is checking this out for us hopefully all will be ok thanks for the advice though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millie Posted July 11, 2009 Author Share Posted July 11, 2009 dont know if anyone remembers me telling you my problem over the temperature on the car rising well been out quite a few times and it hasnt happened so much but anyway went out last weekend and it shot up it was a warm day travelling and it was up and down all the time so i took it back to the garage last fri and told him what was happening. the garage has done some tests on it and found out that our fan is not switching onwhen it needs too. he has kept our car to find out the reason there is power going to the fan so he is looking at maybe a break in the wire or the wiring loom or something hope it gets sorted soon i need to be back on the road asap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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