Towing with geartronic

[John Reynolds]

I noticed an article from "Honest John" in the Telegraph who recomends an additional transmission oil cooler module is "ESSENTIAL" if towing with a geartronic 'box. Has anybody had this done and does anyone think that a flush of the ststem plus additional cooling would provide a cure. When not towing the geartronic behaves itself perfectly.

[scally]

We tow with a S60 D5 geartronic on a 53 plate i have used geartronic for engine braking and it has always held in gear no problems if you are in the right gear at the start of the desent alternativly use the cruise control which will keep the speed to whithin 2 or 3 mph of what you set it to.

[4wheeldriver]

Cruise control only holds the speed on the flat and uphills, provding there is enough power. Cant vouch for the 53 plate but what I was told about the operation of geartronic was from the Volvo Concerns manager himself.

[scally]

I can only comment on my own experiences just had two weeks in cornwall without any problems, towed down and back along the A30 a few steep hills there cruise control held speed to within 2or3 mph of the 60 mph speed limit both uphill and downhill. Towing 1300kg caravan.

[XC90caravanpuller]

Hi we are just back from an extended (ask me later) stay in Lake Garda, Italy.
2,500 miles towing through the Gotthard tunnel (17Km long and at 1200 metres high, 4000 feet.) and an extended descent either side, going and coming back.
Swiss vignette at £27? one each for car and caravan, allows motorway driving through some absolutely spectacular and beautiful countryside, mountainsides, bridges and tunnels.
I'd recommend a trip.
With Cruise on the engine braking works. Holds 90kmh no problem (80 kmh in Switzerland & Germany ).
In geartronic "D" it doesn't always and can catch you out as the caravan tries to overtake the car. Speed creeping up is a worry too with on the spot fines of 80 euros. Locals never speed!
With careful driving you can get 60 mpg going from the south side of the tunnel to Lugano. 50 miles.
I couldn't drive on the way back (ask me later) so my wife, who previously had only towed back from a weekend in Hayling Island, managed the 1000 mile trip home in 4 days. We had some strong side winds in France, and she commented twice on the lack of engine braking especially when being overtaken by trucks when abiding by advice signs for caravans to descend hills at 80kph.
She tends to ease off the throttle or brake as they push the caravan to one side as they are drawing level.
It's "respect" to the XC90 for the way she adapted quickly to managing such a big car and towing the van, especially on the "wrong" side of the road. We were on cruise most of the time being overtaken by everything on the road and occasionally on 2 lane m'ways in Germany pulling a train of lorries who aren't allowed to overtake.
Major problem occured at toll booths where I had to get out to reach the ticket or hand over the cash.
To be honest this happens when I'm driving too.
The car is almost as wide as the caravan so those concrete bollards look very threatening. Watch an artic go through when you are next at a toll booth. They have about 5 cms 2" to spare either side. Respect to them!
Overall MPG for the 2500 miles was 23.9 but I forgot to switch the trip when we arrived, so that includes 500 miles of not towing but with roof box and cycle carriers. As we were spending money like water anyway the diesel costs didn't seem to matter. We even missed the trick of using the sat nav to find supermarket cheap diesl on the motorways and paid the 20% premium.
Overall impressions are very good for the car. We were refreshed (air con on all the way, and very grateful to have it with temps averaging 29 - 38 degrees celcius), comfortable, loads of room with only 2 of the boys with us on the outward trip and just the 2 of us coming back (ask me later) and the extra weight, self levelling suspension, auto box, all meant that it was a much better towing trip than we had with the '97, 212K, V70 CD TDi Manual.

Oh! and a word of warning! The rear compartment 12 volt doesn't switch itself off when you park and lock up. After 2 nights of running a large camping fridge through the socket we got in the car one morning to find a flat battery. There is a message that says "rear 12 volt supply active". It's only when you read the instructions in the book how "this can drain the battery". Obvious really, but not until you need to know.
Must get one of those booster chargers.
This seemed to blow out the cruise until the first stop, but it all came back when restarting.
XC90 Score out of 100 = 88 (95 if you've read the instruction manual).

[4wheeldriver]

Good to hear you enjoyed your trip. Sounds like it was eventful at least!! What size of caravan do you pull? I have a twin axle Swift which trundled along behind the xc brilliantly apart from the annoying regularity of new faults appearing every 100 miles!! lol Having said that though I get better fuel consumption out of the RRS by about 3-5mpg than the xc doing the same trip to Shrewsbury from up here in the sticks. At least the neutral "feature" of the geartronic never cost you a fine down those hills!! lol

[XC90caravanpuller]

Originally Posted by 4wheeldriver

Good to hear you enjoyed your trip. Sounds like it was eventful at least!! What size of caravan do you pull? I have a twin axle Swift which trundled along behind the xc brilliantly apart from the annoying regularity of new faults appearing every 100 miles!! lol Having said that though I get better fuel consumption out of the RRS by about 3-5mpg than the xc doing the same trip to Shrewsbury from up here in the sticks. At least the neutral "feature" of the geartronic never cost you a fine down those hills!! lol

It's a '95 Swift Rapide 490/5 GXL, the lightweight version of the Challenger. They don't make it any more and new vans are getting very heavy with all the extras they load them with. Max authorised weight is 1060 kgs with ex-works weight of 870 kgs and allowable payload of 190kgs. Very light for the XC90 but a delight all the same. It's always full of stuff, BBQ, awning, poles, chairs, tables, gazebo etc so reaches MAW easily.
There was a Swift Owners Rally on the Camping Fornella site in San Felice del Benaco, where we stayed, but I ended up in hospital and didn't get to say "hello!"
Legionnaires' Disease caught somewhere on the trip down.!
Fatal in 30% of cases, especially male, 50+, smokers, which I am, so feel lucky to have survived!
Stop smoking clinic appointment booked for the 5th Oct.
Can't do anything about gender or age!

[4wheeldriver]

Originally Posted by XC90caravanpuller

Legionnaires' Disease caught somewhere on the trip down.!

Nowt like catching something serious on hols now is there!!

[/QUOTE]Stop smoking clinic appointment booked for the 5th Oct.
Can't do anything about gender or age![/QUOTE]

Unfortunately thats a problem that none of us can do anything about.

Hope youre getting better now though and have a speedy recovery.

4WD

[dodgyken]

Originally Posted by XC90caravanpuller

, allows motorway driving through some absolutely spectacular and beautiful countryside, mountainsides, bridges and tunnels.
I'd recommend a trip.

I go up there to "play" whenever I can - do a Youtube search for BMW 525 Alp Pass. Not to long ago I cycled from Zurich to Locarno in 1 day - 210KM + over the top of the Gotthard pass.

With Cruise on the engine braking works. Holds 90kmh no problem (80 kmh in Switzerland & Germany ).
In geartronic "D" it doesn't always and can catch you out as the caravan tries to overtake the car.

I agree - at lower speeds it doesn't sit naturally with the gearbox ratios. At 100kmh it has no problems - with big hills needing a manual tug down into 5th

Speed creeping up is a worry too with on the spot fines of 80 euros. Locals never speed!

Garbage - we speed all the time - we just know whether cameras and hidden radars tend to lurk so don't get caught

With careful driving you can get 60 mpg going from the south side of the tunnel to Lugano. 50 miles.

What?? Even up the big hill from Bellinzona to Lugano??

I couldn't drive on the way back (ask me later) so my wife, who previously had only towed back from a weekend in Hayling Island, managed the 1000 mile trip home in 4 days. We had some strong side winds in France, and she commented twice on the lack of engine braking especially when being overtaken by trucks when abiding by advice signs for caravans to descend hills at 80kph.
She tends to ease off the throttle or brake as they push the caravan to one side as they are drawing level.

In my experience of driving across Europe you are best served at a tow speed of just above 90kmh - that way you avoid entirely trucks overtaking you.

Oh! and a word of warning! The rear compartment 12 volt doesn't switch itself off when you park and lock up. After 2 nights of running a large camping fridge through the socket we got in the car one morning to find a flat battery.

The V70 will automatically turn off if the battery gets too low - but I have experienced the same feature with the rear 12V

[Johnny8718]

I tow a 1900kg (max) Elddis Crusader Super Sirocco with a petrol XC70. The Geartronic box has always held under engine braking and has been faultless. I really do not see what the issue is here, unless you are pushing the car too far maybe??

Speed? I drove at 60, 65, 70 and even more at times in previous years, especially when I drove a Mitsubishi L200. I felt invincible as the car would pull up to three tons legally.

Then I witnessed my parents jack-knife and turn their outfit over in a ditch. Nice end to a holiday.

ANYONE who exceeds 55 - 60 mph is a fool and I really do feel that speed is the towing issue.

How many of us have been overtaken by someone with a single axle, dancing all over the road?

John.