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Wrong Revs While Towing


Scott102
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Hi,

Just had my 1st experience towing a caravan and found it quite hard.

The problem I was getting is; when driving on the motorway @ 60mph, the 5
gear is to low and 4th is too high. Is there any way to remap or modify the
turbo to come in 500rpm earlier?

I'm driving a T27 2.0d Tourer and have been told there should be plenty of
power to pull the caravan (small single axle 800kg) but the fuel economy never
got over the 1st mark on the dash readout (under 30mpg).

Can anyone advise??


Regards,

Scott



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could be air resistance against the front of the 'van

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I don't think there is any way to change the settings on the turbo because it is designed & built to work with the engine. I believe the revs should be around 2000 - 2200 rpm for optimum running.

As for getting more than 30 mpg, well, you are dragging an 800kg air brake behind you so your economy is going to plummet due to (1) the increased weight and (2) the increased wind & rolling resistance.

To put this in context, my transit is designed to haul 800kgs. It will do it but it doesn't like it and boy does it burn some fuel in the process.

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Was thinking, with the roof of the T27 being so low compared to the Caravans roof if a roof box would act as a wind deflector, or just add extra drag and add to the problem

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You could give it a go and see what happens but I reckon the biggest factor here is likely to be that an approx 1600kg car has become a 2400 kg vehicle train and gained an extra pair of wheels. Factor in the passengers (2 or 4?) plus their luggage, a full tank of fuel (80kg) plus whatever you have loaded into the caravan (50 pints of Stella = 55kg approx.) plus the possibility that 'van's tyres may not be top quality and may be increasing your rolling resistance and you have one heavy beast to get moving and keep moving.

Bet it loves the downhill bits though.......

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The more i hear about towing a caravan the more i realise "don’t look at the MPG gauge" and just get a heaver right foot.


Ref the Stella; that’s just the wife’s beers, and then there's mine lol.

Thanks for all the help, looks like it was just the fear of the unknown.



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I have towed a 1000kg Folding Camper for many years with my T180 - always drive in 4th and get fuel economy 30-32mpg

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Don't know about the present 2 litre diesel engine but would expect it to be a perfectly adequate caravan tow car - I towed a 1000kg van with the much less powerful first generation avensis turbo diesel for a number of years and found it more than acceptable. I currently tow with a 2009 (new shape) tourer with the 2.2 diesel engine and find it to be an excellent tow car for my 1250kg van. Fuel consumption tends to be around 28-30 mpg when towing which I consider acceptable. Less acceptable is short journey consumption around town (not towing) which is only low thirties.

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You check your tyre pressure on your car & your van and also the breaks on your van. Don't forget hitch coupler is automatic & sometimes can stick if not serviced properly . I hope this helps.

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I tow quite a bit with my 2007 D4D, it has a 6 speed box and I find I just have to work up & down the gears to keep engine sweet. As for MPG I get between 28 and 36 mpg depending mainly on wind direction. My caravan is heavier than yours at about 1350kg but its mainly wind not weight that changes consumption..

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Being new to towing i checked the pressure (car and van) and felt the caravan wheels (for heat) just incase the brakes were stuck on, and both were fine. Going by most of the replies it seems to have been the a headwind more then the car not pulling right. 8)

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It goes without saying all cars have different towing characteristics.

Diesels are probably best due to the torque characteristics of the engine but it's possible to tow with a 1.8 petrol engine providing you use the gear box and are prepared to let the engine develop power by raising the engine revs. Yes it may sound as though your punishing the engine but believe me you are punishing the engine and drive train more by trying to run in too higher gear at low revs thinking you are saving fuel.

If you've ever witnessed or knew something around the testing and development of modern engines you would realise that two weeks towing your caravan with a 1.8 petrol will never harm it, provided it's been well serviced. Yes the fuel consumption will rise dramatically as you are using the engine performance to tow a caravan which has the aerodynamics of a brick.

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Would imagine it's fine; The D4Ds tend to be the highest revving diesels I've seen so shouldn't be a problem running them up a bit. (That said I don't know what the 2.2's are like, but my 1.4 D4D and the 2.0 in my brother's 'rolla have a higher rev redline than my old crappy petrol fiesta! :lol:)

You might be able to lower the turbo threshold slightly with something like one of Kingo's magic boxes tho'.

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A tuning box will give you the extra "grunt" you need for towing, without a doubt

Kingo :thumbsup:

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