Thread: Td5 Towing

Absolutely impressed with my TD5 (factory map) whilst towing a 1640 kg (Tare) pop-top caravan. ACT to Brisvegas via Newell Hwy, sitting on speed limit, set cruise control to 100kmh in Drive and all I had to do was keep the vehicle and van on the road. Basically set and forget. The cruise knows what gear to use and how hard to push the engine to maintain a set speed. During a head wind the cruise dropped the gear to 3rd and ploughed on. 1250 km - averaged 16L/100km during a 33 degree Celsius day.

Effortless!!!!

maybe think of running a synthetic trans fluid?
They handle the heat much better.
regardless, if you tow lots, change the fluid lots.



anyone got a side by side pic of the two trans coolers?
I'd be interested to see just how much bigger the RR is.

So we bought a 2800kg (3400kg ATM) tare caravan and will be using the D2 to tow it until we get something newer before next tax time. Just had a Drivetech trans oil cooler fiited behind the front bar to compliment the stock cooler.



This thread been very good to learn how to drive the car when pulling a decent load. Next will be an EGT gauge. Just tossing up if I go with EGR delete or without.
20210909_175932.jpg

With an EGR delete you will save caking up the intake manifold and map sensor, and theoretically get slightly worse economy.

However when you see the muck they put back through the motor... It will make you lean towards delete.

Cheers
James

Originally Posted by Matt_Rides

So we bought a 2800kg (3400kg ATM) tare caravan and will be using the D2 to tow it until we get something newer before next tax time. Just had a Drivetech trans oil cooler fiited behind the front bar to compliment the stock cooler.



This thread been very good to learn how to drive the car when pulling a decent load. Next will be an EGT gauge. Just tossing up if I go with EGR delete or without.
20210909_175932.jpg

There are a few to choose from in the range - what was your choice?

Originally Posted by onebob

There are a few to choose from in the range - what was your choice?

The guys at Fluidrive Automatics did it all for me. From memory its the 280x200mm 72 plate oil cooler.

The cruise knows what gear to use and how hard to push the engine to maintain a set speed. During a head wind the cruise dropped the gear to 3rd and ploughed on. 1250 km - averaged 16L/100km during a 33 degree Celsius day.

The cruise is Like Sergeant Schultz . It knows Nothing!
All it does it add throttle to make a frequency of pulses meet the desired frequency which is set by pressing the button. The TD5 cruise is particularly brutal and I rarely use it while towing except in dead flat country.

In a D2 towing it would be flat out with cruise engaged on hills and into headwind, as evidenced by kickdown.

In these circumstances I believe your EGTs would be extreme and often over 700C, particularly if you have stock boost.

I guess The Newell to Brisbane is probably the flattest terrain you will likely encounter except for the downhill from Toowoomba. The M1 is much hillier and I would advise against using cruise control there as they have a habit of slowing down a hill the going WOT at the beginning of the next.

I would advise getting an EGT gauge and driving by that . By using that you can control speed on hills without being flat out . It is surprising that even half throttle will allow a steady slow decline in speed without excessive EGTs.

I guess I am a bit OCD but to tow 1800Kg I would and have replaced transmission fluid with Castrol Transmax Z full synthetic, big intercooler etc. I also have a revised map for extra power But I am pretty certain that you would be over with a stock map, hence the warped exhaust manifold problem that is so common and maybe head gasket problems. Mine had a warped manifold when I bought it with a stock map.

I can easily maintain 100Kmh with low EGTs on the flat ( maybe 400C at 100kmh) but as soon as a hill is encountered towing my 1382KG Tare , probably 1700Kg gtm pop top The EGTs soar and have to be controlled by the accelerator and maybe gears to 700C or less.
I haven't had much experience with the new/old van yet in addition to driving from Yarrawonga to Tumut to Avoca beach but I had to watch the EGTs on the hills , but with my mods I could pass the trucks on the Hume easily uphill . I think it will be a lot slower up hill than maintaining 100-110Kmh with my 1000Kg Camper trailer.
Boy the pull out of Adelong to Tumut is a beauty also . I think it was 2nd gear at about 3000RPM and 650-700C.
Regards PhilipA
PS the man towing a 3400Kg van with a TD5 rates my admiration for his patience .

The cruise control maps on a TD5 are not quite as dumb as you say, but they really only replicate driver demand required vs target speed compared to current.

On the later TD5 there is a map to limit fuelling based on estimated EGT, but if the vehicle has been remapped with a dirty injector duration mod, this map is redundant and unable to come up with valid data for estimates.

I've written my own we EGT estimates formula and believe I have it pretty close, but it is also unreliable on tunes that have hacked duration maps.


Short story, if you have a remapped TD5 and tow, fit an EGT immediately.

Cheers
James