Is this right?

[Peter_374411112]

Now, I have had a go with the towcar v caravan weight calculator, but the chart shows neither my car or caravan.

I have a Mondeo 2.0l Ghia Auto saloon 1999. It looks and drives as though I have just driven it out of the showroom, as in its in perfect working order. I dont as yet know the weight of my caravan. Its a two berth Fleetwood Wanderer 11/2.

A chap I know said that as mine is an Auto, I would have to get an oil cooler fitted. Is this right?

 

[Lutz]

It's rather risky to purchase a caravan without knowing its weight although a two berth is unlikely to be outside the permissible limits for your car. An additional oil cooler should not be necessary - only where the car manufacturer explicitly states that that it is in the handbook. In fact, new cars could even lose warranty coverage due to the technical modification of having one fitted.

 

[Peter_374411112]

It's rather risky to purchase a caravan without knowing its weight although a two berth is unlikely to be outside the permissible limits for your car. An additional oil cooler should not be necessary - only where the car manufacturer explicitly states that that it is in the handbook. In fact, new cars could even lose warranty coverage due to the technical modification of having one fitted.

Hi, Lutz

Thanks for the reply. I knew the caravan would be within the limits of the Mondeo, but this is the first Auto I will be towing with and was rather taken-a-back to think that an oil cooler was needed.

Thanks again.

Ps. I would say the gearbox oil seals were the weakest point if I towed something too heavy?

 

[RogerL]

The Ford Mondeo of that era uses a Jatco automatic transmission - not the most robust around in front-wheel drive configuration so Ford have recently dropped Jatco and now use Aisin-Warner autoboxes, made by a division of Toyota.

Towing constitutes "severe conditions" in most manufacturers service guides so automatic transmission fluid changes will be needed more often, annually in some cases.

Many automatics have a simple oil cooler achieved by running a pipe through the "cool" tank of the radiator - this can be augmented by fitting a fluid-to-air cooler in series with the pipework.