Towing troubles

plastic soul said:

Yes why

Click to expand...

AHA! I knew it





Red ones don't go up hills

You can try painting it a different colour but it will always know it's red deep down

Ahh ok, for a minute there I thought you were the coach driver that over took me on the 1 in 4 hill in North Yorkshire

Re: Towing troubles
Ahh ok, for a minute there I thought you were the coach driver that over took me on the 1 in 4 hill in North Yorkshire

My red 96 auto tows a horse and trailer all up over 1700kg, not as good a 90's 4l land cruiser but but better than my 1994 3l hilux surf. I think yours is down on the power it should have, even in hilly NZ it rarely drops to 2ndd on main roads, if you get the pump wrong it can reduce power but not saying you have but it might be worth setting it back to standard?

Sounds like you've already gone off your Landy so I suggest you sell it. You've got to want it badly enough to keep a Landy, despite all/any issues!

I'd say you'd be lucky to get £1500. (Especially as it's Red. And everyone knows Red ones don't pull up hills)




Btw- coming on a Landy forum and saying "its f***ing rubbish" is a bit rude!

Going to sound stupid, but do you still have standard tyres under the 2" lift?

If you have gone for say 235/85 tyres that will be like making every gear ratio around 11% higher unless there are compensations made in transfer box or axles.

I think however others may be right, just sell it, that seems to be the more important question. To which my answer is that I just bought a 120k mile base spec 300tdi with MOT for 500.

Might be worth checking all the turbo/intercooler pipes, if ones collapsed or got a hole it could make it a bit sluggish.

I've got a red one and that goes up hills fine, even with over 2 tons on the back.

my 96 hilux surf was a rubbish car compared to my disco, general consensus on the equivalent forum to this one was that they had pretty much unsolvable problems with overheating .....I followed the advice and spent a load of $$$$$ and it still overheated when towing......so I bought the disco for less than i sold the surf for, placed some orders with paddocks for all the things that cause it to break down, still have some $$$$$ left and it tows fine, it can get a bit hot but backing off stpps it damaging itself, a new rad and that problem would probably be fixed making it perfect for towing horses around for the money i want to spend on what is recreational vehicle not a daily driver.....better still the wife loves it...

So in my opinion its as good as most 90s 4wd in its class at towing......and they are dirt cheap here compared to the likes of land cruisers...it seems they are cheaper still in the uk (no salt on the roadsmin nz so its not hard to find one with very little rust here)

I`ve never towed a newer model craravan but an older glass windowed 5 berth without any problems at all with my manual disco 200, also towed an ifor williams 4 wheeled builders trailor with an over weight 1 1/2 to 2 ton of wet earth on it no problems, but as the trailors brakes never worked (then) it was stopping that became fun in the wet.
after I fixed the trailors brakes a ton of wet 20mm sand & ballast was a doddle to tow - And stop !!
I`ve towed broken down transit 35cwt coachbuilt camper vans on a solid bar no problems too..

A few things spring to mind..
my old 207000 mile disco IS maintained by me, used daily, and well used at times as a builders van to a 7 seater, bit its standard - bog standard mechanically .....
no stupid tyres, body lifts or snorkals, the only thing I changed was 2 batteries under the bonnet for max cranking amps = its NEVER failed to start at the first movement of the key to start position and runs veggie/derv mix...

Someone asked if your disco was red, but I thought if he was asking IF you were running fuel other than straight derv out of the pumps at a garage....other fuels with lesser combustion factors decrease your engines power......


so, cant really see what your doing wrong matey..

Standard 300 disco should tow that weight easily, I know people towing over 3 tonnes with them, and it is hilly round here! OP, I would guess there is a problem with your vehicle, it might not be expensive to fix, try the basics like filters and tappets first.
Big tyres are no good for towing, and I also wonder if the lift has raised the towball very high, so there is a great deal of weight on the towball, this will impair road performance badly.

Might be an idea to sort it out, even if you are going to sell it, old discos sell very cheap, more so if they aren't running well! But if it was me I would fix, that should be a great tow vehicle if set up right.

i had the same issue with my 300 defender on really steep hills, we ended up in low box with lots of revs and a close eye on the temps

ours is a standard 300 tdi pulled our very large eldiss tin tent to lake district ,all round Yorkshire. down south etc etc never have a problem with power.as already said. if you have large tyres and been buggering about with the pump, put it back to standard and see what difference it makes. any chance of a pic of the disco.



ron.

my 300 tdi disco tows every day normally below 2 tonnes but will tow 5 tonnes

Uphill i boot it and it whistles and exellerates up any hill while towing
you need to blank off the egr de cat it and put a good knn filter on

wilson294 said:

my 300 tdi disco tows every day normally below 2 tonnes but will tow 5 tonnes

Uphill i boot it and it whistles and exellerates up any hill while towing
you need to blank off the egr de cat it and put a good knn filter on

Click to expand...

Assuming you are in the UK, it is not legal to tow 5Tonnes on the road.

What is wrong with standard air filter? Most have not had problems with them, provided they change the elements.

Cant the lift pump be a cause of low power?

A 300 will tow 1200 like its not there in my experience. My father in law towed 3.5t in his back in the day and said it coped piece of ****! Your underpowered for sure.

Have you checked the thin pipe that runs round the back of the engine from the turbo to the fuel pump? If they split or melt there will be no pressure to the fuel pump so no boost fueling. I have found this fault on both my Disco,s.

Turboman said:

Assuming you are in the UK, it is not legal to tow 5Tonnes on the road.

What is wrong with standard air filter? Most have not had problems with them, provided they change the elements.

Click to expand...

I dont tow the static caravans on the road I remove them from sites in the lake district they are often on sites with big hills we move them off the pitch to where our low loader can get to them they are between 3 and 6 tonnes

theres nothing wrong with the stock air filter but its not the best

The black smoke says its getting too much fuel and not enough air its under powered so you need more air so problem is turbo intercooler pipes air fileter or exhaust

Ok, thanks all...
I have standard 235 70 r16 road tyres on
The turbo delivers the right amount of pressure at the injection pump on boost
The tow ball has been lowered with a drop plate so the tow height is as normal
Someone mentioned checking tappets.....what would this do?

When looking at the pump cone underneath the diaphragm I noticed the scribed line from the fuel pin doesn't score all the way to the bottom...there is a decent length line there but like I say doesn't go down to the bottom....
Someone earlier mentioned getting a compression test? Is this worth it?
It starts first time every day. For the last 2 1/2 years I have used it for a daily 60 mile round trip...been ace.....so general driving is fab...just fu**s up on those hills

plastic soul said:

Ok, thanks all...
I have standard 235 70 r16 road tyres on
The turbo delivers the right amount of pressure at the injection pump on boost
The tow ball has been lowered with a drop plate so the tow height is as normal
Someone mentioned checking tappets.....what would this do?

When looking at the pump cone underneath the diaphragm I noticed the scribed line from the fuel pin doesn't score all the way to the bottom...there is a decent length line there but like I say doesn't go down to the bottom....
Someone earlier mentioned getting a compression test? Is this worth it?
It starts first time every day. For the last 2 1/2 years I have used it for a daily 60 mile round trip...been ace.....so general driving is fab...just fu**s up on those hills

Click to expand...

Some op mentioned air filter, another fuel lift pump.
I`ve had 2 lift pumps go....its like your running out of fuel..
my air filters due for a change....took it out a few months ago and "banged it" to get the excess dust/sand off - keep forgetting to get a new one..