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Hi there

Very new to towing a caravan and having checked all the towing spec and being well within the weight limits we were a little concerned to notice a distinct smell of burning when we stopped the car after about 50 miles.  Is this normal?  The engine temperature gauge was normal!

Any thoughts greatfully appreciated!

The Tinkers

Hi

I wonder if your clutch might be slipping, it might require adjustment or renewal.

One way to check (without the caravan on) is to accelerate as fast as possible say from 30 mph in 4th gear going up hill. If the engine speeds up but the car doesn't respond very rapidly the clutch is slipping.

Tyreman

Thanks for all of that - it is an automatic and we will have it checked out - really love this site!

Lindsey

agree with all that extra cooling is needed by the sound of it,see (round £100 i think) thats if the clutch is ok.a clutch slip will show up a lot more when towing,and can smell awful.

http://www.kenlowe.co.uk/

Really appreciate all your thoughts, thanks.

Taking the car to the dealers for a service and hopefully sort it out before the big push down to Devon next week.

Thanks again

Lindsey and Mat

Hi All

Towed our van for the first time last weekend smelled the same thing ours is an aotomatic, dont get me wrong it performed perfect but for the smell of overheated oil so contacted my auto transmission experts who gave great advice. He said that all auto transmissions do smell hot when they have been towing with no adverse affect but some do require an extra cooler and to pop along when I was passing as it may just require an oil and filter change at regular intervals.

Going on tuesday so will post his diagnosis after

I tow with a Daewoo CDX estate 2ltr petrol auto

Terry & Julie

Well I never

went round to auto box garage and he told me a few things I didn't know, one was trhat the auto box works at a higher temp than the cooling system. Also if the auto cooler fitted as standard is part of the radiator then a seperate cooler is required for towing or the auto gearbox oil is changed about every three to five years depending how often you tow and the ambiant temp you tow in whether hilly or flat. after a long chat he did say I should be fine with the amount I tow.

I booked it in to have one fitted my feelings are better safe than sorry at side of road or an empty wallet

its all here my friend

http://www.kenlowe.co.uk/

http://www.kenlowe.co.uk/oil-coolers/automatic/automatic.html