Towing with a S60 2.0t Auto
 

Hi

I'm a newbie to the forum. I've got a 2003 S60 auto and would like to tow our caravan with it. It's well within the permissible towing weight. I've changed the gear oil as part of a large service I carried out when I bought the car a few months ago. I just wondered, do I need to do anything else such as fit a gearbox cooler or should It be OK without?

Thanks in advance...

Permissable and advisable are not the same.... and personally i wouldnt tow with petrol. If you are new to towing i recommend (if not already) you do some research regarding towing weight ratios, loading your caravan, nose weights and so on. As for the cooler you might be better asking a Volvo dealer, independant or an autobox repair specialist. My guess is it is unlikely to be required. My previous car had a cooler as standard, no idea about my current car, no one has mentioned it and haven’t seen any reference when getting quotes for fitting the tow bar.

I'm quite happy towing with a petrol car and have towed with both petrol and diesel vehicles. I made sure to do the research on the car before buying so know our caravan is well under the towing weight for the car.

Go for it. Nothing to stop you, not even the dieselites who will say can't or shouldn't use a petrol. It's got a turbo after all to pull it along.

I've towed with plenty of less powerful petrol auto cars. Yeah sure you need to exercise mechanical sympathy and mpg is a a tad lower but if your car is well maintained, you make sure you know what rpm the engine torque starts from and peaks at and you don't drive it like a heavy footed unskilled "diesel is best" driver you'll be fine.

So your considerations are...(and I can see you already have this in hand from your second post)

What is the permissible weight
What is your caravan max weight
What is your caravan nose weight
What is your cars tare weight
What is your cars towball max weight

...and then how does all this fit in with your car. If it does. Crack on.


See, you're already practicing mechanical sympathy...


Has it not already got one?

If not I would say enquire about one. The cost of retro fitting a cooler will surely be less than the price of cooking your transmission.

I have towed with both petrol and diesel cars. Preffer diesel for the low down torque but it's just a case of matching revs to required torque with petrol engines same as diesel, petrol tend to be a bit higher up the rev range is all.

Years ago I drove a well modified escorting mk1 Mexico, twin webber dcoe 40s, big valves, 1760 rebore and a wild cam that saw very little power below about 3000 rpm.
To this sign written road rallying car I added a roof rack upon which to tie the pram, and a towbar to pull the camping trailer.
Plenty of power once on the move, the trailer was often airborne over the bumps, getting going was a different matter, after much experimentation I found it nessesary to hang 4000 rpm on it then feed the clutch in gently while giving the go peddle a hefty prod.

Got caught in traffic after an accident, boys in blue directing traffic and it was slow moving stop start of nessesary. We moved perhaps 10m at a time.
There I am, WAARP WAARP WAAAAARRRR, thrum thrum thrum , WAARP WAARP WAAAAARRRR, thrum thrum thrum.
Needless to say it drew attention, and the copper on traffic control enjoyed my discomfort so much he was laughing as he stopped the traffic in front of me frequently. In fairness he had his fun and then relented letting our stream go untill I passed him, possibly not wanting a clutch failer to add to his problems.

It was not an APROPIATE car for towing but it was my only car, therefore it became a tow car as well as a road rallying , family car.

It's a volvo, you will have no problem I'm sure, just drive it with a bit of mechanical sympathy, make sure your fluids are correct levels before starting and enjoy.
The only extra advise I would give is spend a bit more money on decent towing mirrors. I had 2 sets of cheap before I saw sence and bought Milenco, 6 years later they as as good as new, easily fitted and removed and worth every penny of their cost.

Paul.

It's absolutely fine as a towcar.

I've had my S60 for about 5 years now, a 2.0T Auto and have done thousands of miles with 1500kg of Van on the back with no problems whatsoever.

Mine is no longer standard, but even as a standard car it had no problems at all.

Will happily sit at 60 on the motorway, torque converter locked up cruising at 2300RPM.

Mines has the sport chassis pack so has stiffer springs as standard which helped with stability, but I can't see a standard one being much different.

Will do about 24/26MPG on a flat road at a cruise, soon drops when some hills are brought into the equation though!

A tow bar might come in handy.

I am sure the pills will kick in soon!
:speechless-smiley-4

Rustyfrog - I thought I'd forgotten something! Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm sure it will be fine towing the caravan. Our current tow car is petrol and the Volvo has a more torque and power, so I'm sure it will be an improvement.