Just Gor Back From An 800 Mile Towing Trip With An Auto!!!

[carswaps]

Hi all,
Just got back from Wales after 800 miles of touring with my caravan, its a 21' fleetwood and weighs 1350 kgs empty and 1650 full loaded, so including the car thats around 3.5 tons.
The cars a 1996 P plate V70 t5 auto
I had a month or so to prepare for the trip so i took the time to flush the gearbox oil, do the pcv system and service all the brakes.
I was a little dubious about towing with an auto after all i had read about overheating the auto box and other members saying get an oil cooler fitted.
All i can say is after owning 5 volvo 850/v70's all of which have been manual the auto towed better than any of them.
The t5 returned an average MPG of 19.2 not bad if youve had one before and if youve never been to wales they have some of the most severe hills you could imagine!!! we even came down a 25% one with the van on the back!
In my opinion dont believe all the hype just make sure your cars in good mechanical condition and be safe.

[Matthews 855 T5]

Originally Posted by carswaps

All i can say is after owning 5 volvo 850/v70's all of which have been manual the auto towed better than any of them.

The t5 returned an average MPG of 19.2 not bad if youve had one before and if youve never been to wales they have some of the most severe hills you could imagine!!! we even came down a 25% one with the van on the back!
In my opinion dont believe all the hype just make sure your cars in good mechanical condition and be safe.

This is interesting for me, we are often considering using our 850 auto to tow but my main concern is decelleration on downhills. Does the autobox allow any engine braking? I suppose you can downshift a manual and autobox to some extent but is is sufficient and safe? How did you find it?
Thanks
Matt

[CTCNetwork]

Hi,

Depending on the AutoBox, you should be able to lock down into 3rd or 2nd..
And yes, the lock down does help and acts as a break..
Worked Ok on my 940 and down shifting in the V90 (nothing towed) helps slow down on hills with speed cameras..

Volvo recommend an oil cooler only where you tow extensively..
It woun't hurt to have one fitted though..

Des. . .

[carswaps]

Hi,
Yes i used 3rd to shift down to when going down a steep hill and it worked great for me.

[vanbeck1]

The newer auto boxes, ie after 2000 have a cooler fitted as standard and no further additons are normally required, unless you plan on towing horseboxes etc. Some of the auto boxes also change down themselves going down hills and engine braking is supplied as one normally gets with a manual.

Like anything else, think ahead and it all works extremely well. Hash it and it will probably break.

[Clan]

[QUOTE=vanbeck1;263942]The newer auto boxes, ie after 2000 have a cooler fitted as standard and no further additons are normally required, unless you plan on towing horseboxes etc. Some of the auto boxes also change down themselves going down hills and engine braking is supplied as one normally gets with a manual.
QUOTE]
all the big volvo autos have an auto gearbox oil cooler built into the radiator as standard right back to 200 and 700 days.
The newer electronic boxes will change down if the car is accellerating with your foot off the throttle ( ie going down hill) it will recognise this and change to a lower gear for engine braking or at least lock up the transmission free wheel too .

[gary1638]

Two years ago I had an 850 T5 auto and towed a caravan weighing in at around 1350kg. We went to Italy, through the San Gotthard tunnel in Switzerland which is 17km long. The outside temperature gauge just went up and up, thank goodness for climate. It was around 20c hotter in the middle of the tunnel than at entry/exit and no wind. The engine temp was fine, but the gearbox fluid overheated and the car had an awful vibration for quite some cosiderable time until the fluid had cooled to its normal temperature. We came back different way, just as mountainous, but no problems at all. I no longer have the car, but if I did I would fit an additional cooler which are a hundred quid from kenlowe. Better that than risking the box.

Gary

[LankyTim]

Ive always towed with manuals however the 940 I have now is the first auto ive had. I have to say I still find it unnerving coming to a hill and seeing the revs stay the same but the speed decrease and the box change down by itself. Overall though I would say its probably better, Im hypersensitive to all automotive faults real or imagined but once I can get my head round the autobox doing its thing and just relax it can be very enjoyable. Under certain curcumstances, e.g on a hill of the right gradient and at the right speed on a motorway the autobox can continually flick in and out of overdrive with no obvious advantage. As I say it only happens under the right road conditions.

For piece of mind I changed the autobox fluid for fully synthetic and fitted a kenlowe oil cooler. If you tow with an auto Its a must. Just imagine cooking your box, its far cheaper just to take precautions.

[The old Tank Master]

Hi All,

Just got back from Cornwall (to SW London). I have a '93 K Reg 850 Auto with 144k on the clock (only just run in..!). Estate car fully loaded with a 4 birth caravan in tow (approx 1100kg loaded?). Alko tow hitch fitted.

Towed fine, even on the 10 hour journey back during the sweltering heat on Saturday on the A303. Passed several (many!) overheats on the journey. Not me though...

Got worried at a couple of points when the external temp gauge registered 58c! At these points I turned the engine off (the traffic was that bad anyway). This allowed enough time to cool off and re-merge onto yet another single carriageway near stonehenge. However the engine temp gauge on the dask remained perfectly horizontal to the point I did the traditional 'tap tap tap' a few times on the perspex to see if it was stuck! Fan operated as expected so i simply assume it did it's job.

Other than the annoying traffic (the A303 is a thread in it's own right..) the car was perfect for the task. Couldn't ask for more, the engine automatically shifted down on descents and seemed quite able to break the unit without difficulty or melting the pads/disks. Alko Tow hitch may have helped as on occasions cars that overtook me going up had real difficulty with snaking on the way down to the point I could have re-overtaken them had I wished. Obviously though the weight of the Volvo would also have been a key factor.

Uphill was a little more of an effort but can't ask for everything.

To be honest (and i would say it) but I couldn't have asked for more from a towing unit.

Good luck,

Cheers,

John

[TheJoyOfSix]

Newark to Lincoln solo, Lincoln to Sth Wales' Valleys with empty trailer, Sth Wales to Sundern (Deutschland, east of the Ruhr) with the 66, back to Lincoln empty, solo back to Newark.

1986 Volvo 245GL, B230A (2.3 carb) and AW71 autobox - NO additional oil cooler!