Towing

[Rambo 72 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Rambo 72]

When towing a 1.5t trailer can you drive in auto and cruise control or should you use the manual side of the auto lever.
People have told me you should never tow in 5th gear. Can anyone help me with the correct way to tow any info will be appreciated .

[spike69 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close spike69]

G'day Rambo, I have an auto and tow a 1.5T camper as well. Generally when towing on relatively flat highways I leave it in Drive and use the cruise control. Have had no problems at all. When the road gets a bit more hilly I tend to use 4th gear as the car has enough torque not to drop too much speed on the hills, and it prevents constant gear changing by the automatic transmission and consequential overheating of transmission oil.

There are a few good threads here on this topic, worth reading.

cheers
Spike

[Rambo 72 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Rambo 72]

Thanks Spike

[gphcald Member Find all posts View Profile Close gphcald]

The towing in 5th and/or 6th gear applies to manual gearboxes. Due to the design of the teeth the cogs are pushed apart in overdrive gears, this can cause long term damage.
What I do is on the flat put it in 5th, but at the first sign of a hill or having to accelerate i drop it back into 4th as this is direct drive. Pootrol gearboxes have a known weakness in the early GUs and all of the GQ 4.2 diesels and petrols.

[404pug Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close 404pug]

Spike, you will get better consumption towing in 4th rather than drive and you save your gearbox from overheating. Tow in 5th other than downhill and it will constantly hunt between 4th and 5th and will overheat. I have found that cruise control is a total pain when towing unless it is dead flat country.

[Limo Guy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Limo Guy]

I agree re fuel consumption. My auto trans service guy in Wangara said never tow in drive use s4.
He has had to rebuild Prado autos as 5th is an overdrive in the auto box.
This plus the lower revs adding to the box overheating is not worth the risk.
I use cruise control in s4 with no problems unless in extreme hilly country.

[Dabeanian Member Find all posts View Profile Close Dabeanian]

Hi limo guy,
Who have you used for auto and general service/ injectors ,
Gonna look at an 09 120 with 227 ks but good price I would get injectors done at them ks , country car .
Cheers Alan.

[spike69 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close spike69]

Spike, you will get better consumption towing in 4th rather than drive and you save your gearbox from overheating. Tow in 5th other than downhill and it will constantly hunt between 4th and 5th and will overheat. I have found that cruise control is a total pain when towing unless it is dead flat country.

Yes agreed, as mentioned I only use the cruise control and Drive when on flat country, otherwise it's 4th. Mine is a 120 and doesn't have S4 but presume the normal 4th gear in the 120 does the same job.