Omega Owners Forum
Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: bongocraig on 27 June 2010, 12:13:26
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hi all, just towed my caravan to the sunny lincs coast but my miggy was really struggling to pull it, the caravan is only a 2 berth and granted is a really old one, but i would have thought the v6 would pull it with relative ease, it seems to have enough power without the caravan on, but with it seems to lack torque.
can anyone throw a light on any potential problems,
thanks,
craig
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Not a great deal of help but you are right it should pull it with ease. What weight is the van with contents? I have the same car and year, I pulled a van for years without a problem, van weight was about 1300kg with payload.
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is it manual or auto gearbox ??
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thanks, all for your quick replys, the car is a auto, and not sure on the weight of the caravan, looked on the plate on the front but its been painted over so many times its unclear, all i know is the caravan is 30 odd year old, but i can push and pull it about and im not the worlds strongest man by any means! lol
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Feel the wheel hubs of the van after towing it, but be careful, they could be hot. If they are hot the brakes could be binding
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thanks, all for your quick replys, the car is a auto, and not sure on the weight of the caravan, looked on the plate on the front but its been painted over so many times its unclear, all i know is the caravan is 30 odd year old, but i can push and pull it about and im not the worlds strongest man by any means! lol
Oh well, thats my idea out the window ;D
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2.5 should hardly notice its there, i'd check the multi-rams are working :y
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I towed for many years with a 2.5 auto without any of these issues. Granted I'd be down to 40mph on Telegraph Hill-but so were many other cars.
Apart from getting warmish I never had a problem with power on the 2.5
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I did 260+ miles towing another Mig on a trailer recently with no probs.
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I have a 2.5 TD auto estate, and pull around a caravan that weighs around 1450kg's, plus all the holiday stuff that can be shovelled into the load bay, and 2 canoes on the roof bars. We get along okay. The fuel figures of around 30mpg when we are without the van indicate the engine's not not in the best state of health but it copes well enough. So I you should be fine, in your race-about V6!!!!
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thanks all for replys, not entirely sure if multirams are working ok, it just really struggles to get to 55mph on the straights, and fuel cosumption down to about 12-16 mpg!, dont sound right!
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Pulled a 1400 kg caravan with 2.5 no problem just hope my 2.6 is as good
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yup, i'd deffo say i got a problem then, if you guys are pulling 1400kgs with no problem, i just looked up our antique caravan weight and its only 850 kgs
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my van is around 1550 kg and the mig manages it well,get about 17-18 towing and I find it is a lot happier in sport mode(keeps the revs up)
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Whens the last time the air/fuel filter/plugs were changed.
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the filters and plugs were changed before i bought it apparently, saying that the chap i bought it off said it was a good car, didnt mention the oil cooler split and someone messing with the vac pipes!, i have to do the cam cover gaskets pretty soon so will be changing them all again
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I'd change them anyway+oil & filter change
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bit off topic but i used to pull my cosworth on trailer with my old sierra 2.9 xr4x4 150bhp and it would sit at 60-70mph no bother
i do think the 12v seems to have more torque low down than the newer 24v engines though
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my van is around 1550 kg and the mig manages it well,get about 17-18 towing and I find it is a lot happier in sport mode(keeps the revs up)
Interesting you say this. When I was in America a couple of years ago, I borrowed my friends Mother's Chevy Suburban 5.7 V8. We were helping a friend move house, so hired a U-Haul Trailer (quite substantial in size). The U-Haul place advised me to lock out the Overdrive on the AutoBox (as Sports Mode does on Vauxhalls) to prevent damage to the rear differential. Not sure if there is any truth to this, but I did it anyway. I'd estimate the weight I was towing was circa 2tonnes.
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my van is around 1550 kg and the mig manages it well,get about 17-18 towing and I find it is a lot happier in sport mode(keeps the revs up)
Interesting you say this. When I was in America a couple of years ago, I borrowed my friends Mother's Chevy Suburban 5.7 V8. We were helping a friend move house, so hired a U-Haul Trailer (quite substantial in size). The U-Haul place advised me to lock out the Overdrive on the AutoBox (as Sports Mode does on Vauxhalls) to prevent damage to the rear differential. Not sure if there is any truth to this, but I did it anyway. I'd estimate the weight I was towing was circa 2tonnes.
I just use sport as I seem to use less throttle and the mig seems to wake up when over 3k revs :y
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thanks all for replys, not entirely sure if multirams are working ok, it just really struggles to get to 55mph on the straights, and fuel cosumption down to about 12-16 mpg!, dont sound right!
Sounds like it needs some TLC & a good service.
I forgot to mention that when I did my mamouth tow job recently I was over weight (thats the trailler as well as the driver :-?) although ignorance is no defence I know - the trailer /load was heavier than the tow car and I still managed over 27 MPG, ok accelleration was down a bit but nothing to complain about. 95% of the journey was on motorway it has to be said, but on the local roads at either end the MPG really took a nose dive.
Personally I wouldn't trust anything a previous owner told me unless supported by written evidence.
HTH
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Towed a 1600Kg van with a 2.5 for around 8 years ... no problems whatsoever.
Therefore we need to find out what is happening.
Firstly .. As Pete said .. check the van brakes, or have them checked professionaly. Heat after a few miles towing is the best clue to a binding brake.
Secondly... check for "slippage" in the drive system ... check the rpm and speed for each gear solo, and compare to the results when towing. There should be no difference .. if there is you may well have a Torque Converter/gearbox problem
Thirdly .. as already said .. multirams ... designed to give better torque at different engine speeds .. if not working poperly will lose power.
Fourth... you say the car behaves ok solo .. are you sure ?? "normal" driving is somewhat different to towing ... one way to check.. if you can .. is to load the car up as heavy as possible and then try driving it up any steep hills nearby .. see if the performance replicates that of towing
Omegas make very good towcars, lots of torque, good weight and rear wheel drive .. I'm very surprised you have difficulties !!
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i do believe i found the culprit!, the vac hose near the brake servo had been t'd off because the point where it normally goes broke off and had been lashed up with tape, now i have drilled the hole a tiny bit and put some spare plastic vac pipe i just so happen to find in the car and sealed it in!, took it up the road for a test without the caravan and it certainly feels alot more responsive than before, but the big test will be when i hook up to go home on wednesday!. I really should of spotted this when doing the rest of the vac pipes, but time was getting on and needed to put the rest of the car back together after the oil cooler replacement! (no excuse!) thanks to you all for your input, you were all a great help!, now im off to lay on the beach and enjoy what sun we do get!
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Towed a 1600Kg van with a 2.5 for around 8 years ... no problems whatsoever.
Therefore we need to find out what is happening.
Firstly .. As Pete said .. check the van brakes, or have them checked professionaly. Heat after a few miles towing is the best clue to a binding brake.
Secondly... check for "slippage" in the drive system ... check the rpm and speed for each gear solo, and compare to the results when towing. There should be no difference .. if there is you may well have a Torque Converter/gearbox problem
Thirdly .. as already said .. multirams ... designed to give better torque at different engine speeds .. if not working poperly will lose power.
Fourth... you say the car behaves ok solo .. are you sure ?? "normal" driving is somewhat different to towing ... one way to check.. if you can .. is to load the car up as heavy as possible and then try driving it up any steep hills nearby .. see if the performance replicates that of towing
Omegas make very good towcars, lots of torque, good weight and rear wheel drive .. I'm very surprised you have difficulties !!
None of those in South Lincs!! ;D
I am interested in this post too as I have a similar problem. I would add checking all the vacuum pipes for splits. These are the black lines running all over the engine bay. approx 1/8inch in diameter. One favourite place is the connections near the back of the plenum.
EDIT Ooops took so long to post you fixed the problem!
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thanks all for your inputs!, the miggy now pulls the caravan effortlessly, i even found myself having to slow it down!, it was the vac pipe being tee'd off at the wrong point. i got some funny looks at the campsite fixing it but who cares!