Thread: D3 4.0L petrol towing

Originally Posted by Ashes

...I'd just like to know if there is anything I should be considering doing to the car, adjusting the way I drive or service the car to cater for occasional a towing of around 3t of van.

Hi Ashes,
A couple of things that haven't been mentioned so far.

Driving style - do not use cruise control while towing, on hills anyway, as it makes the auto work really hard. In diesels it can trigger "restricted performance" errors as well, but best not test how much strain to put on the 4L. (Driving across the Nullabor, Oodnadatta Tk, or similar flat lands would be ok with cruise control).

Do to the car - make sure your gearbox has been serviced. If you've done between 50,000km to 80,000km since last ATF and filter change, time to do it again. (Pretty obvious, but the extra load from towing will stress the auto and better to be safe, than sorry!)

Cheers,
Rob

Thanks. I think I may be setup ok. I won't bother with a long range tank for the relatively infrequent long range touring. I have 2 Jerry holders on the van so can carry fuel externally if necessary. I've had the transmission regularly serviced and will increase its frequency depending on how much towing I end up doing. The van doesn't have LEDS so I won't need a pulse buster. Definitely take on board lower gear selection and limited cruise control use.

Have probably done about 600km towing the van now and it is pretty stable and will easily do the speed limit on the flat if I wanted. Averaged under 16L/100 on the freeway. Steep hills are another thing. The D3 4.0 petrol does bog down a bit and I recon you can see the petrol gauge dropping as you kick down the gears and add some right foot.

Thats where the diesel shines.
Andrew

Just thought I'd update this. Have had our 20' Bushtracker for 16 months now which comes in around 3000kg fully loaded with wate, food, clothes and gas. Towing has been pretty good and certainly more stable with the front water tank full to increase ball weight.
The 2006 D3 petrol is still going well and as long as you are patient up the big steep hills it copes well. I will probably update to a D4 3.0 diesel next year but still loving the D3 so no big rush.