towing

hi guys i have a 2012 2.5 td auto i also have a 16 foot caravan 1500 kgs now should i be towing in D or shift it manualy and keep it in 4 th

That will be fine to tow in drive mate, the van is only a lightweight. At highway speed the torque converter should be locked in and it should not be stressed at all.

^ Absolutely right. On really steep hills it would be beneficial to consider pulling back on the gears. On really steep hills with our 1.8T van (I'm not talking about mounds really, I'm talking about the Alpine Way) in the middle of summer we would pull back on the gears to save the engine and gearbox.

Generally though, even pulling the new 2.5T van, I leave it in Drive.

Thats all the info you need bricky, I'm fairly sure when I spoke to Tony at the Qld muster he had a fan failure and still pulled the van over Cuninghams gap. My van at that time was 1.7t, I ambled over in third just on the torque peak at 2100. If it's "hunting" for gears that is no good for an auto. That would be the only time to shift manualy apart from downhill runs where extra help from the motor is desirable.

Actually John you're right - my fluid couple was shot then too. Had to take the hills slow! After that event (when we returned), I had the system checked by Nissan and by Burton Radiators. Nissan said the coolant system in the engine was fine, and Burton Radiators said that the radiator was fine but the fluid couple was completely useless.

Yes I thought so, that realy gives you little faith in those two places.

I have less faith in the Nissan dealer now, the mechanic they had was deservedly promoted and now they've got a new apprentice. Without performing the fluid couple test, and for normal driving, my coolant system was fine. I agree that they should have figured out the fluid couple was shot, but once I had it diagnosed by Burtons they replaced it for me.

Burtons were spot on, once we changed the fluid couple my car handled heat much better. That's how I now know to check it, and why I'm now just buying another fluid couple instead of mucking around with the dealer.

I'm not stopping with the fluid couple work though. I'm looking at the radiator thinking to myself that I could replace it with something that has better cooling performance, but I'm not quite sure that going to one of the cheap all-metal jobs from eBay is the way to go.