Towed the caravan to Banbury Oxfordshire for a few days and was cruising the M25 in sixth gear with cc on and it didn't like it. The engine was on 2000 rpm and it didnt like it and in fact went into limp mode on a few occasions. I did the rest of the journey in 5th gear without cc and the problem was over with the bonus of better fuel consumption this way.
Has anybody else had this problem, the engine obviously was straining a bit so it decided to protect itself. Tell me how you tow.
What kits on the car? Modern cars really need decent tow electronics with ecus, the older basic bypass kits just dont cut it. If you don't have a proper kit then the ecu wont know you are towing and wont adapt, the kit I fitted to the golf tells the engine ecu, transmission ecu, parking system and central electronics its towing somethingand subsequently they all change parameters.
That said, how heavy is the van? Even if you are using a basic kit I would still expect it to deal with the load...
The towbar and electrics seem to be factory fitted ie they have Ford stamped all over them. Theres a big electrical unit in the offside cubby.
The caravan comes in at around 1.5 ton so well within the vehicles capabilities.
My view was in 6th it was running below 2000 revs 5th gear puts that up to about 2500 revs which it seemed happier with. I just need to go faster in 6th to get it above the 2000 rev mark do you think or perhaps forget the cc.
Just to add that apart from this little hiccup the car was planted on the road and has been my best tow car yet.
My caravan is also 1.5 tonn and my car tows very well in 6th gear I am usually around the 2000 revs
Its probably down to my inexperience with this car as this was the first time I have towed with it.
Did you measure the nose weight of caravan
Yes it was 80kg.
MPG was 27.4 I dont know whether that is good, bad or middling but it certainly beats 21 mpg for my ex discovery and 16mpg for my ex BMW, so I'm happy.
About the same for me, my last car an IX35 Hyundia ran at 25 so a little better, but much much more room inside to load the car thereby making caravan within weight and still room to carry 5 people in car