Zero power when towing horse trailer?

flanagaj said:

I will try and add a bit more clarity here.

a) The combined weight of the wife and daughter in the vehicle was about 110kg.
b) The trailer brake was not on, and the brakes were recently serviced
c) Even when not towing I find I have to drop down gears just to get up steep hills

I will jack the vehicle up later to make sure a brake is not binding on the freelander.

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So little weight in the car and little weight on a trailer and no hand/parking brakes were on.

Changing down speaks for itself - drive a car up a steep enough hill and you'll need to change down, unless you start off in first! I change down gear often and there's nought much wrong with my diesel lump.

The Mad Hat Man said:

Get your engine checked out and make sure everything on there is spot on.

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So this car's engine is sufficiently healthy to only need changing down on "steep hills" - but it can't move off with a light load on a "slight hard track incline"

Doesn't add up MHM.

What ever stopped this rig moving, it wasn't the engine.

By chance, your pony wasn't getting amourous with a Shire Horse in the trailer at the time?

To clarify, I regularly drive to a fishing stop where the route takes me over hills - on tarmac roads. There are hills where I have to change down in the Freelander, but I've also driven the route in my son's Rover 220 Turbo and those same hills don't get anywhere near needing to changing down of gears!

I don't supose you can find out now where all this smoke was coming from. It doesn't sound like it smokes at other times - just this 1 instance - so why? If it was the clutch, or it wasn't but the clutch was needing to be slipping badly, do people not think there should also be a very noticable smell? What could have created all this smoke?

In my experience is that when a clutch starts slipping you can hear it. The end noise and revs increase, but the speed stays constant.

I have not experienced that with the FreeLander, maybe I need to hitch the trailer up and take it out to see if I can here the engine tone change when under load. The wife is not the best when it comes to cars, so I think I need to try it myself, otherwise, I feel I am clutching at straws (not pun intended) as to what the issue is.

I will report back in due course, but appreciate all of the posts.

I do also agree that the Freelander is a noddy 4*4 and she really needs a decent 3 litre V6 for towing the trailer.

flanagaj said:

In my experience is that when a clutch starts slipping you can hear it. The end noise and revs increase, but the speed stays constant.

I have not experienced that with the FreeLander, maybe I need to hitch the trailer up and take it out to see if I can here the engine tone change when under load. The wife is not the best when it comes to cars, so I think I need to try it myself, otherwise, I feel I am clutching at straws (not pun intended) as to what the issue is.

I will report back in due course, but appreciate all of the posts.

I do also agree that the Freelander is a noddy 4*4 and she really needs a decent 3 litre V6 for towing the trailer.

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A diesel auto is best for towing, perhaps a Disco or P38? Having low range is useful too.

Got td4 freelancers at work they pull absolutely fine without any issues towing over 1400kgs

flanagaj said:

I do also agree that the Freelander is a noddy 4*4 and she really needs a decent 3 litre V6 for towing the trailer.

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I can not believe how wrong this statement is! Needing 3 litre V6 to tow 350KG is like saying its imperative that you have a Buggati Veyron to do your weekly shop in!

There might be occasions where a low-range box just might help - but give me a Freelander with traction control over a Prajero with diff-lock and low-range anyday - that's before you even start to explain to your wife how and when to use all those buttons, knobs and levers.

GrumpyGel said:

I can not believe how wrong this statement is! Needing 3 litre V6 to tow 350KG is like saying its imperative that you have a Buggati Veyron to do your weekly shop in!

There might be occasions where a low-range box just might help - but give me a Freelander with traction control over a Prajero with diff-lock and low-range anyday - that's before you even start to explain to your wife how and when to use all those buttons, knobs and levers.

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TC is useless in my experience, in any case it only operates for a short time to prevent the brakes overheating. It's a cheap and nasty way of using the ABS to save on a decent LSD. Pulling a 3.5 tonne trailer on wet and muddy surfaces, the TC gives up the struggle in no time. No knobs or levers with an LSD, no clacking and it will keep working for as long as needed.

Could the smoke have been caused in a similar fasion to this...



Couldn't find a way of doing a proper link, so in the interests of copywright etc, ths pic came from "British Car Parts" Facebook page.

Umm may have just hit the nail on the head. Was the ground wet? Might have been the exhaust touching wet grass and just spinning wheels?

flanagaj said:

c) Even when not towing I find I have to drop down gears just to get up steep hills

.

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what tyres do you have on the car?
are they all the same?
are they worn out?

may sound ridiculous, but mine was the same, driving over any incline it would get slower and slower, with me changing down gears trying to get it to shift

I did one of two things, I changed the air filter and put four new tires on, then drove the same route, and was hitting 95's over them inclines (no officer I wasn't speeding)

GrumpyGel said:

I can not believe how wrong this statement is! Needing 3 litre V6 to tow 350KG is like saying its imperative that you have a Buggati Veyron to do your weekly shop in!

There might be occasions where a low-range box just might help - but give me a Freelander with traction control over a Prajero with diff-lock and low-range anyday - that's before you even start to explain to your wife how and when to use all those buttons, knobs and levers.

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Hi. The pony weighs 350kg, but there is also the trailer weight of 1000kg as well. SO the total towing weight is 1350kg

My Wife has just come back from the super market and said "the freelander feels like I am trying to tow a trailer even though I am not"

flanagaj said:

Hi. The pony weighs 350kg, but there is also the trailer weight of 1000kg as well. SO the total towing weight is 1350kg

My Wife has just come back from the super market and said "the freelander feels like I am trying to tow a trailer even though I am not"

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Is it still smoking?

Has been touched on and hate to say it but

FL1, White smoke and no go

all says HGF to me

Bromsgrove Defender said:

Is it still smoking?

Has been touched on and hate to say it but

FL1, White smoke and no go

all says HGF to me

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Terminal?

We have been looking at getting a Mitsubishi Shogun 3.2L D as as much as we would like a discovery, we just cannot afford one and we would like something < 5 years old

flanagaj said:

Terminal?

We have been looking at getting a Mitsubishi Shogun 3.2L D as as much as we would like a discovery, we just cannot afford one and we would like something < 5 years old

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Not terminal

Don't even "know" for certain that's what the problem is. Just surmising.
Also depends on cost to repair versus value of vehicle

If you wanted to change I would have thought you would want a similar size vehicle to your Freebie

Have you not looked at Freelander 2's

flanagaj said:

Terminal?

We have been looking at getting a Mitsubishi Shogun 3.2L D as as much as we would like a discovery, we just cannot afford one and we would like something < 5 years old

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Don't expect economy anything close to the Freelander from the shogun.
Have you taken your Freelander to someone who knows what they are doing with them?

Nodge68 said:

Don't expect economy anything close to the Freelander from the shogun.
Have you taken your Freelander to someone who knows what they are doing with them?

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We have never been able to find anyone who I think is any good. Maybe it is me being a tight %$£", but they all seem to be expensive and can never give me a definite answer what the problem is. Nothing worse than switching out parts in the hope you will get lucky and fix the faulty one.

I am based in North Dorset so any recommendations would be most appreciated


Thanks

How's it driving now?

I didnt think the td4 was prone to hgf?.......have you checked the brakes are not sticking on yet?

mjrimmer said:

I didnt think the td4 was prone to hgf?..

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Dont think it is but the mention of white smoke and Freelander in the same sentence.......

Has anyone mentioned intercooler pipes, check for splits.... admittedly you'd expect black smoke but ....