Towing with geartronic

[dodgyken]

Right - downhill at 60mph and the gearbox locks in 6th - not budging.

I tried different speeds and different gears and it always stayed locked - inc 4000rpm in 2nd down from the Air Balloon towards 11A of the M5.

[4wheeldriver]

I showed the engineer mine dropping out at 50+ and let it accelerate up from there and was told "thats the way its supposed to work". So looks like yet another CYA op from Volvo.

[XC90caravanpuller]

This is interesting! both my wife and I noticed how we were trying to change down (we used to have a manual V70 tdi cd, and have never towed with an auto before so didn't understand what was happening), when approaching roundabouts, and found we had to brake to slow down, as there didn't seem to be any engine braking at all. This kind of explains it, but what's more worrying is that we are taking our caravan to Lake Garda in Italy this summer over the Brenner pass and back through the Mont Blanc tunnel. Better make sure the brake pads are thick enough. Cooking on friction! No wonder the MPG is so poor!

[Penguinistics]

The future will be exhaust braking like they already have on trucks - all we'll need is a fancy turbo with variable vain geometry (they're becoming available already) and then you can retard exhaust gas flow, effectively introducing the engine braking we are missing without having to use service brakes. This sort of system is the only way trucks can go over mountain passes without cooking thier brakes

[4wheeldriver]

The D5 already has variable vane technology in the turbo and has done since 2002ish. And I used to go over Mont Blanc in a lorry 15-20 years ago without any of these fancy retarders that they have nowadays!! Not fun but had to be done back then!!

[XC90caravanpuller]

We were out with the caravan last weekend and tested it.
It seems to be intermittent.
Sometimes there is engine braking and the tacho steadies at 2,000 RPM ish and sometimes it drops to tickover and the speed picks up.
If it was consistent you'd know where you are.
It explains why we were surprised when it wasn't using engine braking.
Could this be managed with some electronic gismo or remapping?
I've only ever driven auto's occasionally before and never towed with auto till we got the XC90 in Feb 09 so don't know what it should be like.
Are we saying it's a fault or just part of the "design"?
Advice and info gratefully received.

[4wheeldriver]

I say its a fault as not everybody suffers from it by the look in this thread alone but VCUK say thats how it SHOULD operate. So somebody must know which is correct??

[04volvo4x4]

I have a problem with my XC90 D5 (MY04) 128K miles and 1300Kg of Caravan.

Very good all round car until towing on hills....

Bang.... up comes the gearbox service message and safety mode with no power to pull.

I spoke to the local volvo garage who suggested it was the oil that needed changing in the auto box. (IE old oil causing a overheat in box...)

I have had this done in a service and had the message reset.

I drove up to Scotland last weekend with caravan and its happened again!!!

Gearbox or engine goes into a "safety" mode, a dash appears where D is normally displayed and no power for towing again!!!

You can get the car to work again as normal if you pull over turn off engine and turn back on again. but message still there.

Anyone any ideas what could cause this? (clutch slip?)

My thinking is that I pushed her too hard IE Box over heating or similar but other people say on the forums that they tow a lot more with no problems...

We dont seem to have the problem with the braking on hills but not really been looking for it yet because of the other problem......

Many thanks!

[John Reynolds]

We have experienced exactly the same problem with a V70 D5 whilst on holiday in Devon. We have not had any problems before either with or without the caravan. The engine temperature also started to rise rapidly so stopped and called out the AA. By the time they had arrived the car had cooled down and they suggested to carry on as they did not have any large recovery vehicles available and it worked ok. Had car reset by main dealer in Devon who said it may have no further problems. Then travelled some 450 miles without caravan with no problem. Once the caravan was back on though we experience exactly the same issue but this time stopped before engine got hot and were recovered home by the AA for 250 miles. Further investigation by the local dealer says that Volvo recomend a transmission fluid change to see if that helps but only successful in 10% of faults. Failing this it is a new gearbox at £4500 as the problem is probably with the lock-up! They also say that the radiator is partially blocked which should be changed to assist in the cooling issues. Reading some of the other comments it does not give you a lot of faith in a Geartronic Volvo as a tow-car.

[4wheeldriver]

I wrote to the Caravan Club (of which Im a member) with a letter to warn others in the club of this "problem" with the geartronic but they didnt publish it and sent me a short reply saying they'd keep it on file. Wonder if that was anything to do with Volvo advertising and offering discount through CC site............................