Confidence in my surf shattered

[jackster]

I Car`nt belive it but i`ll start at the beginning.

Last Sunday,set off to Brighouse Bay in Dumfriese & Galloway with surf and caravan, a trip of some 177 miles.The trip up was perfect, average about 60/65mph,only really travel at that speed so the overdrive does`nt keep going on and off.Flew over Shap summit like it was`nt there, fuel , 19 mpg,not so bad at all.
Now i constantly look at the temp gauge.As i sit in the drivers seat looking at the temp gauge,when at normal running temps, you can always see a line of black between the right hand side of the orange temp needle, and the left hand side of the temp symbol,it`s like this wether towing or not.I was beginning to think the gauge was faulty it was so steady---until the journey home that is!!!


Travel back down the A75 towards the 74 no probs,then the M6, so far so good.
Whilst climbing shap summit the speed droped and off came the overdrive,so i backed of the pedal abit, revs about 2500/2700.About 3 minutes after that i smelt it.You know that hot steamy damp smell that you know is not right.Quick glance at the gauge,touching the red

BO!!OCKS, i don`t beleive it!,i said as i threw out the cups off the holder and turned the heater and fan up to full.This did have an immediate affect, temp came down to about two thirds.
Limped on then the AT Temp light came on.Double

So now i`m going to have change the transmission fluid since i`ll have probably cooked that,and i`ll flush the radiator out and refill with a bit more coolant this time.
I`never expected this to happen to a vehicle of this size and build, it should not happen.

just wondering what peoples opinions are.I`ll try it again but if the surf even hints at spitting outs its dummy again,then it`s goodbye surf hello landcruiser.

cheers
jack

[TonyN]

While its not advisable, we had Linda's 3.0 nearly in the red 3 or 4 times, towing that tractor home from cornwall. Turning the heater on and backing off the go pedal got the temp back down. but it's never hinted at overheating while towing legal weights.

We never had the ATF temp light on even with the tractor on the back and the temp needle hovering near the red, so maybe your AFT fluid is past its sell by date and has cooked.

I'd fit a tranny oil cooler anyway, a large one and skip using the rad cooler, or run though the cooler, and then to the rad so its not to hot when it gets to the rad and call it good. And not worry to much about the motor, check you have enough coolent to water in the rad.

[George T]

I agree with Tony N,
I tow my race car loads and I can get the vehicle warmed up nicely when going uphill. Trick is to let the vehicle go as far as possible in top gear then when it changes down a gear drop the revs. Here are some other mods:
1. Redline water wetter - I've put this in the rad and it seems to of helped.
2. Remove bull bar and anything else blocking air flow, drill some holes in the plastic covering the rad.
3. Put some washers in the bonnet hinges - this raises the rear (bonnet, not car) and produces a vacuum effect. Similar to the vents some of the guys have been fitting.
4. Fit road tyres, ugly but less drag.
George

[Linda]

And just to stress it should not get too hot towing a normal caravan uphill. Bullet only got a little hot VERY steep hills towing about 3 ton of tractor!! She towed another surf from Middlesborough to Hampshire and never got even slightly hotter than usual.

[Gizmo]

Normally okay on the temp.....towed an IFOR 2 horse trailer from Bolton-Malvern-Bolton with no problems [and I wasn't taking it easy as I forgot the trailer was on the back]

[rog]

Also normally ok on temp, in fact until my last trip with the caravan a week ago I had never seen the needle move past the halfway mark and I was paranoid about it as I joined this forum after buying the Surf!
Anyway...last trip was down to Wombwell towing an Abbey 416 which is a fairly hefty van but has been no trouble to the beast in the last year.Very hot day travelling along A66 behind several HGV's and I glanced down at the temp gauge as we crawled up a steep incline and noticed the needle had crept up to 3/4...sphincter into spasm nearly ploughed into the back of Tesco lorry going down through the crawler gears as I watched the needle get ever closer to the red mark but once over the crest and I backed off the throttle and coasted down hill the temp dropped right back down to normal. And the same thing happened on every steep hill where I wasnt geting a free run at it the rest of the way down, checked the rad level next day and took about a mug full of water to top it up I think it was just a combination of heavy traffic, steep hills and a hot humid day.There was no trouble at all on the way home, coming back over Shap temp went to about 3/4 but i was more relaxed by then cos I knew it would come back down once I'd eased off again...... Hope I havent tempted providence by submitting this.!
ps A/T alarm didnt show

[jackster]

Also normally ok on temp, in fact until my last trip with the caravan a week ago I had never seen the needle move past the halfway mark and I was paranoid about it as I joined this forum after buying the Surf!
Anyway...last trip was down to Wombwell towing an Abbey 416 which is a fairly hefty van but has been no trouble to the beast in the last year.Very hot day travelling along A66 behind several HGV's and I glanced down at the temp gauge as we crawled up a steep incline and noticed the needle had crept up to 3/4...sphincter into spasm nearly ploughed into the back of Tesco lorry going down through the crawler gears as I watched the needle get ever closer to the red mark but once over the crest and I backed off the throttle and coasted down hill the temp dropped right back down to normal. And the same thing happened on every steep hill where I wasnt geting a free run at it the rest of the way down, checked the rad level next day and took about a mug full of water to top it up I think it was just a combination of heavy traffic, steep hills and a hot humid day.There was no trouble at all on the way home, coming back over Shap temp went to about 3/4 but i was more relaxed by then cos I knew it would come back down once I'd eased off again...... Hope I havent tempted providence by submitting this.!
ps A/T alarm didnt show

That sounds like what i went through, especially the sphincter bit.I`am taking it to my mates on tuesday where the water will get a good flush through and so will the transmission,then all replaced with nice fresh new stuff.Used to work with a lot of torque converters in my early days and they do have to be looked after,so putting in new should be quite refreshing for the surf.

[firefly]

Jackster very same happened to me last year, off to devon with the van the temp had been staedy all the way there no problems at all, as we hit a hill called telegraph hill we got caught behind a very slow wagon, and wow did i 5hit messen, i had the old girl thrapping out at 3000rpm in 2nd gear with atc on and od off, for what seemed like a lifetime and yup the gauge went over to the red as i crested the hill it went straight down to its original position, this was my first attempt at any sort of steep hill towing a trailer/caravan with an auto box and didnt i just feck it up LOL, no i never let the revs go over 2500rpm and let the box sort itself out dont even use etc keep one eye on the gauge and if it does rise again ill just put the heater on full bore till its passed, i did take the precaution of having an extra oil cooler fitted, just have faith, oh and i forgot to say driving it the way i now do we went over the penines last year and and back and the gauge only rose once slightly on the way back as its a longer haul lancashire to yorkshire steady 50/55mph up this hill not bad at all

[jackster]

Decided to put an extra oil cooler on. There not expensive and don`t appear to be tricky to install, so hopefully should`nt have any more problems.

If anybody has any reccomendations on which brand to get or links to websites who they`ve used i`d be greatful
cheers
jack