D3/4 Towing tips

[gavinwibrow]

With my D2, the tips for heavy towing were start off in 1 (to protect the idler?), leave it cruising in 3rd not D, and operate in Sports mode.

With the 2.7 6 speed and towing 3T plus of square shaped brick, do I just leave it in Sport and let ZF do its magic, or anything else to add?
I will have an EGT gauge (my insurance), and RovaCom IQ or Scan IID Tool for coolant temp and whatever else I can conjure up (I like to know engine oil pressure and ATF temp).

My D2 also had a low coolant alarm, but I don't recall ever seeing such available (or needed?) for the D3/4?

TIA Gavin

[Konradical]

I have found just drive. Put it in D and get on with it. Ours is the 3.0/8 speed though.

I have found in situations of headwinds or hilly areas, putting it in sport mode helps hold 7th, preventing it from driving in 8th, causing poor fuel usage.

My opinion is have your IID set up to monitor the cars health, keep an eye on the trans temps and enjoy the drive.

[whitedisco]

Hi Gavin
This is just my way of hopefully preserving the motor and auto. I do annual trips north and now have 215ks on the D3 with no problems. Auto serviced every 80k. Also many years in the bus game. Besides it gives me something to do to relieve the boredom!

I have a 2008 D3 2.7 and tow a 2900 kg full height van. I don't have EGT but use a Torque pro on an old phone with a Bluetooth OBD adapter to monitor water temp and % load.

I like to cruise at about 93 kph for fuel economy when no trucks are around and just over 100 kph when they are to keep out of their way. 16 L/100 at 93 and about 20 at 100. Wind makes a big difference,

My usual mode is sport for takeoff and through towns then on flat open road I lock it in 5th. I find that in auto on a slight downhill it will change into 6th then the next slight rise it does a high torque change back to 5th. I like to stop this happening as it must cause lockup clutch wear. On steeper hills I manually take it back early through the gears to avoid high torque changes. I usually use cruise on the flat country.

Monitoring the percent load is a bit like driving to an EGT - I had one on my D2. I like to cruise at about 70% load or less. Each gear lower reduces the load at a constant speed. 5th seems to be best for the load we are towing and is what the auto wants to use on average. Unlike the D2 the D3 does not have a 1:1 ratio, 5th and 6th are both overdrives and 4th is under 1:1.

Enjoy the D4 it is much better than the D2 for towing.

The experts will say I am overthinking all this but there you go!!

Peter

[gavinwibrow]

Hi Peter.
Excellent and thoughtful presentation and advice - strikes a chord, even though I suspect my bitumen average will be less at 85-90 (obviously less again on gravel, which may be well be in 4th in lieu of 5th at an anticipated average of 70 -80 at best), and given we plan to do about 15K in the next 3 months.
As an ex busman myself, I too like to keep the strain factor as low as practicable - hence my EGT monitoring.
With my mild remap, max torque of just over 500 Nm is at around 2,400 rpm. My old girl has already done 230K km, albeit with a suspension rebuild and replacement compressor, plus ATF metal sump and auto services at 50K intervals.
Cheers Gavin

Hi Gavin
This is just my way of hopefully preserving the motor and auto. I do annual trips north and now have 215ks on the D3 with no problems. Auto serviced every 80k. Also many years in the bus game. Besides it gives me something to do to relieve the boredom!

I have a 2008 D3 2.7 and tow a 2900 kg full height van. I don't have EGT but use a Torque pro on an old phone with a Bluetooth OBD adapter to monitor water temp and % load.

I like to cruise at about 93 kph for fuel economy when no trucks are around and just over 100 kph when they are to keep out of their way. 16 L/100 at 93 and about 20 at 100. Wind makes a big difference,

My usual mode is sport for takeoff and through towns then on flat open road I lock it in 5th. I find that in auto on a slight downhill it will change into 6th then the next slight rise it does a high torque change back to 5th. I like to stop this happening as it must cause lockup clutch wear. On steeper hills I manually take it back early through the gears to avoid high torque changes. I usually use cruise on the flat country.

Monitoring the percent load is a bit like driving to an EGT - I had one on my D2. I like to cruise at about 70% load or less. Each gear lower reduces the load at a constant speed. 5th seems to be best for the load we are towing and is what the auto wants to use on average. Unlike the D2 the D3 does not have a 1:1 ratio, 5th and 6th are both overdrives and 4th is under 1:1.

Enjoy the D4 it is much better than the D2 for towing.

The experts will say I am overthinking all this but there you go!!

Peter

[discorevy]

Setting one of the live values in iid on torque converter will let you see when the converter is open , regulated or closed.
Driving with it closed is what you want to aim for , but don't worry too much if it's being regulated or even open for short periods .
The expansion tank on your D4 has an inbuilt low coolant sensor which will bring up a message , they are prone to fail ( internal float sinks to bottom and permanently brings on message ) once in a while.

[Dagilmo]

I have an Adventurer Offroad camper, circa 1.5t loaded. When I got the D3, Kevan at Rover Tech said "put it in sport to tow." I did that for the 5 years I had it and it worked well for me. Using the IID Tool. You can see the difference between sport and drive. In drive it drops into 6th and the TC is 'regulated' most of the time. In sport it stays in 5th and the TC locks more often.

[gavinwibrow]

I have an Adventurer Offroad camper, circa 1.5t loaded. When I got the D3, Kevan at Rover Tech said "put it in sport to tow." I did that for the 5 years I had it and it worked well for me. Using the IID Tool. You can see the difference between sport and drive. In drive it drops into 6th and the TC is 'regulated' most of the time. In sport it stays in 5th and the TC locks more often.

Funny that, it was Kevin that told me the same thing - I suspect the rationale is to set the gear changes a little higher revved like the D2 auto?

[Dagilmo]

Funny that, it was Kevin that told me the same thing - I suspect the rationale is to set the gear changes a little higher revved like the D2 auto?

I guess so, plus it doesn't select 6th which when out on the open road seems the most important thing.

I haven't towed (apart from the tandem trailer to the tip but that does't count) with the D4 yet. Guessing I'll use sport with the 8 speed also.

[Barraman]

"I have found just drive. Put it in D and get on with it. Ours is the 3.0/8 speed though."


I tow a 2,600 kg 6.7M boat and trailer with my 2015 Disco, on the speed limit wherever possible [100, 110 and 130 km(NT) on the highway!] - 22,000 km in the last 12 months! I just put it in drive (D) and go.

I have tried towing in Sport mode but can't detect any advantage in either performance or fuel economy. It averages out around 17.5 L/100 km.

[Tombie]

Gavin

Sports mode and when you’re on an continual long incline drop it manually to 5th.

Have your dash on instant fuel and test between 5/6 gear. Sometimes revs up a bit uses less fuel.

Other than that just go!