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   Caravans and Caravanning -  Caravan Towcars and Towing Advice 		Share   Post on X / Twitter  Share on Facebook  Email  Printer Friendly Version Print
Subject Topic: New tow car needed? Post Reply Post New Topic
PersonJafa
25/4/2014 at 10:48am
 Location: Leicestershire
 Outfit: Swift Charisma 560 & Vauxhall Omega View Jafa's Profile View Profile   Reply to Jafa Reply   Quote Jafa Quote  
Joined: 21/8/2004

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We currently have a 2003 Vauxhall Omega diesel estate, and as a day to day car it is great, as was its petrol version predecessor. BUT as a tow car we have been hit with the dreaded limp mode, where the emissions light comes on and towing we end up doing 10mph. Normally in daily driving it never happens, only under load. As you can imagine this has left us in a number of potentially dangerous situations and no-one seems able to cure the problem. Whenever it is plugged into a laptop it doesn't return a fault. Anyway, we have read a lot about this problem and I'm thinking we should get rid. Trouble is this seems to be a common problem with diesels, so maybe we go back to petrol? I really do not want to go down the 4x4 route, preferring an estate. Our caravan is a Swift Charisma MTPLM of 1460kg. I know I'm asking a lot avoiding 4x4s as so many estates are not heavy enough, but can anyone recommend an estate?


Persontango55
25/4/2014 at 12:37pm
 Location: Lichfield
 Outfit: Coachman Amara 450 View tango55's Profile View Profile   Reply to tango55 Reply   Quote tango55 Quote  
Joined: 15/5/2008

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Did you have a dedicated 13 pin Vauxhall towing wiring harness fitted or did you have the towbar electrics connected to the existing vehicle electrical circuit?


Personmichell8
25/4/2014 at 1:02pm
 Location: 
 Outfit:  View michell8's Profile View Profile   Reply to michell8 Reply   Quote michell8 Quote  
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Its an 11yr old car, the average life of a car is 11yrs, you can't blame it because it is diesel. Nothing is unfixable but possibly the cost of fixing this problem will be more than the car is worth. Problem could be blocked egr valve, but I doubt a dpf was fitted to car this age. You could try various cleaning additives in fuel etc but unless specific fault can be found the fault could always re-occur. If egr valve can be removed easily it could be worth cleaning.

As pointed out though if it only goes into limp mode when towing then the problem could be towing electrics related so it might be worth it to get a towbar fitter to check towing electrics for corroded contacts etc.

If you want a towcar of similar size & performance you will have to get another diesel or it will cost you a fortune in petrol particularly when towing, not to mention high road tax.

You don't really mention a price range but any car can go expensively wrong so mostly look for service history. Perhaps Volvo estate, diesel or petrol or larger people carrier like Galaxy or S Max.


Persontango55
25/4/2014 at 1:24pm
 Location: Lichfield
 Outfit: Coachman Amara 450 View tango55's Profile View Profile   Reply to tango55 Reply   Quote tango55 Quote  
Joined: 15/5/2008

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The reason why I asked about a dedicated wiring harness being fitted is because I had a similar problem with my Volvo when I had a towbar fitted with twin electrics connected to the existing vehicles electrics. It was okay when towing but when I detached the towing plugs the car went in to limp mode for some unknown reason. Apparently the vehicles computer was trying to detect the link up which corrupted the system due to non dedicated relays etc. but once I had the wiring removed and had a dedicated Volvo 13 pin wiring harness installed the problem was rectified and not had a problem since. Just thought it maybe a possibility that the same could be happening with your car but I didn't comment further on my first post until any confirmation was given.


Personjanus
25/4/2014 at 3:28pm
 Location: Rochdale
 Outfit: Hymer Nova 470 Mondeo titanium 140tdc View janus's Profile View Profile   Reply to janus Reply   Quote janus Quote  
Joined: 05/2/2008

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A mk4 Mondeo tdci .0 will do the job nicely. Mine tow my 1450kg hymer like a dream.

-------------
Bill

For a licence dated 1997 or later you must add together the plated max weight of the caravan and trailer, if the total is 3500 or less you can tow it. You may even tow a caravan with a MAM greater than the cars unladen mass the restriction was removed in 2013

Mondeo Titanium 140 tdci



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