Thread: Towing overheating

I've got a 2010 D4, towing a 2.5t block of flats. Never had any overheating issues. However, a year ago I did some testing while watching oil, coolant and gearbox temps.
I now tow almost exclusively in Sport, and always use manual up heavy inclines. More revs is better than lugging up hills.
Try and stay around 2000rpm or more. Certainly more up hills.
Much, much better for all the important temperatures.
Regards
Trevor

I have an MY14 SDV6 and tow a 3ton van. I have only had this problem once and I immediately manually shifted down until revs were at about 2800 and temp immediately dropped. It was a stinking hot day and it was a long fairly steep pull, up the new, at the time, Toowoomba bypass. I normally tow using cruise control on long runs, but use the paddles on steep declines and as above, long uphills.
Cheers
LuckyLes

We tow a 3.5 ton van and no problems. We run the GAP diagnostics and I do monitor the temps. We did have the transmission up to 110c after a really huge, long climb on a hot day out the back of Coffs Harbour but it really controlled the temp well.
We do regularly service the motor, transmission and recently the cooling - anecdotally it seems to be slightly better since the cooling service. We have a trip coming up in Feb so Im interested to see how it goes with a van + GAP tool.
We dont have a trans cooler as we haven't needed it.
As others have said, I'd make sure the transmission is serviced, cooling including viscous fan.

Originally Posted by ytt105

I've got a 2010 D4, towing a 2.5t block of flats. Never had any overheating issues. However, a year ago I did some testing while watching oil, coolant and gearbox temps.
I now tow almost exclusively in Sport, and always use manual up heavy inclines. More revs is better than lugging up hills.
Try and stay around 2000rpm or more. Certainly more up hills.
Much, much better for all the important temperatures.
Regards
Trevor

I’m a bit lazy and use cruise control on freeways and long straight outback roads, and most other low traffic roads.
I note that my Owners Manual says not to use cruise control when in Sport mode so I leave it in Drive. The shift points and other stuff is affected once a trailer is connected anyway.

Do you find that Sport mode override these tow assist changes?

David

Oddessyman

I don't know if there are differences between towing mode drive and towing mode sports, but the gearchanges seem to be just right in most instances and the temperatures are definitely better controlled.
I wont go back. I still throw it into drive on long flats and downhills.
I think the real advantage is the manual mode on long or slow uphills.
Trev

I tow a 22ft 6 in Caravan which weighs right on 3 tonne with 210 litres water and 40litres fuel on board.(2 Jerry cans on caravan)
After monitoring over long trip found temp light did not come on till 118 deg which is almost too late so I installed small trans oil cooler in return line. I can now drive all day up hills and tow at reasonable speed and never exceed 100Deg C.
I think it is a cheap way of prolonging transmission life. This was fitted approx. 3 years ago and has worked well for me.


Richard

Originally Posted by transtar

I tow a 22ft 6 in Caravan which weighs right on 3 tonne with 210 litres water and 40litres fuel on board.(2 Jerry cans on caravan)
After monitoring over long trip found temp light did not come on till 118 deg which is almost too late so I installed small trans oil cooler in return line. I can now drive all day up hills and tow at reasonable speed and never exceed 100Deg C.
I think it is a cheap way of prolonging transmission life. This was fitted approx. 3 years ago and has worked well for me.


Richard

Yep, I added a second one, controlled by a inline thermostat, to my D2. Towed our old Golf all over the place and never had an issue.

Originally Posted by transtar

I tow a 22ft 6 in Caravan which weighs right on 3 tonne with 210 litres water and 40litres fuel on board.(2 Jerry cans on caravan)
After monitoring over long trip found temp light did not come on till 118 deg which is almost too late so I installed small trans oil cooler in return line. I can now drive all day up hills and tow at reasonable speed and never exceed 100Deg C.
I think it is a cheap way of prolonging transmission life. This was fitted approx. 3 years ago and has worked well for me.


Richard

As a paid-up Member of the Overheating Club, I can also comment that the cooling system is a tad under-rated for AUS conditions especially the long steep climbs whilst towing.

Our experience was after purchasing a preloved MY2013 D4, while not towing but returning home & the climb north bound from Sydney on the M1 after the Hawksbury Bridge limp mode warning came on, with the transmission overheating message. This became a regular issue on hot days whilst not towing in Sydmey.
Well cutting the saga short, with the help of my Indy & a transmission specialist, we tracked the issue down to the heat exchanger. The issue being as the engine cooling demands are greater while towing uphill, there is insufficient capacity to cool the transmission fluid. Over time especially if you are towing frequently, the aluminium core in the heat exchanger fatigues gradually, and collapses again reducing the flow which will accelerate the fatigue collapse.
We removed the heat exchanger & installed a separate transmission cooling circuit, after which we have traveled Aus-wide with no further issues.
As a warning, please check annually the condition of your exchanger (a Ford component which has not changed in design for 50-60 years).
A failure will may result in the engine cooling fluid & transmission oil contaminating both engine & transmission, not a desirable outcome, requiring a transmission rebuild.

The warranty we had on purchase claimed that it was not a mechanical failure & refused the claim, adding to our disdain!!!