D3 with little power when towing??

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jennyN

jennyN

New Member
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3
Location
Bristol
I have a 56 plate D3 manual which my husband loves but I hate as it is the towing vehicle for our daughter horse and guess who does all the towing?? After so many things going wrong with the car hubby now thinks it’s worth keeping as we have spent nearly £8k on it in 4 years!! Trouble is I have no faith in it. Other day I needed to reverse uphill with the horse trailer (no horse ) on the back and bloody hell it struggled!! The Clutch was smoking and it was awful! I have been driving for a while and what hubby (who wasn’t there) accuses me of riding the clutch I really don’t think i was, the car just had no power!! Now come on, surely It should be able to do that job?
Should i have put it into one of the special ‘modes’ to do that manoeuvre?
All help gratefully received as I have to go it with t again next week and hills will be involved again!!!
 
From elsewhere... no knowledge on this personally at all.....
...The problem isn't the vehicle, its the auto breaks coming on when you reverse, especially up hill. Horse trailers have auto breaks on them (identified by a sliding portion on the neck before where the hitch is, often with a rubber boot over it), so as you slow down when driving normally the trailer pushes onto the tow hitch and the brakes engage (it means you can tow a bigger weight and it helps stop the trailer sailing past you if you have to stop sharpish). So when you reverse the vehicle the breaks can snatch on, especially when you try to push it up a hill.

Firstly I would suggest getting the trailer brakes checked and adjusted if they haven't been done recently? they can get a bit more twitchy as they get worn (not worn out, but just in normal wear and tear if they aren't adjusted) I would also say never park it with the hank brake on, use it while hitching/unhitching, but then chock the wheels and take it off or the brakes will tend to get sticky in the on position. Lastly I would suggest not reversing up hill, if you are doing a 3 point turn do it the opposite way so you drive up hill and reverse across the hill.
 
Have you got auto reverse on your trailer hitch, or manual reverse lock? Reverse ratio is closer to 2nd gear, rather than 1st, would you pull away in 2nd when towing ?
 
freelance said:
Have you got auto reverse on your trailer hitch, or manual reverse lock? Reverse ratio is closer to 2nd gear, rather than 1st, would you pull away in 2nd when towing ?
Click to expand...
It was also rubbish towing forward up a hill in 2nd on the same trip, again the box was empty. Thankfully I’m the middle when horse onboard we got on ok but it still just does t seem to have the power you think it should!
 
DanClarke said:
From elsewhere... no knowledge on this personally at all.....
...The problem isn't the vehicle, its the auto breaks coming on when you reverse, especially up hill. Horse trailers have auto breaks on them (identified by a sliding portion on the neck before where the hitch is, often with a rubber boot over it), so as you slow down when driving normally the trailer pushes onto the tow hitch and the brakes engage (it means you can tow a bigger weight and it helps stop the trailer sailing past you if you have to stop sharpish). So when you reverse the vehicle the breaks can snatch on, especially when you try to push it up a hill.

Firstly I would suggest getting the trailer brakes checked and adjusted if they haven't been done recently? they can get a bit more twitchy as they get worn (not worn out, but just in normal wear and tear if they aren't adjusted) I would also say never park it with the hank brake on, use it while hitching/unhitching, but then chock the wheels and take it off or the brakes will tend to get sticky in the on position. Lastly I would suggest not reversing up hill, if you are doing a 3 point turn do it the opposite way so you drive up hill and reverse across the hill.
Click to expand...
That’s a brilliant idea and I think you may have something there! Not had the trailer long but it is 2nd hand and bought from a good dealer but was planning to take it back to get wiring checked anyway as lights keep going out. I just defaulted to it being the Disco as we have so much previous issues!
 
As said, get the brakes on the trailer checked out. D3's are superb tow vehicles, shouldn't have any issues even when loaded up!
As above - Use low range for slow manoeuvring, less wear on the clutch and slower/ more controlled manoeuvres :)
 
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