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Just been on my furthest outing and have encountered a couple of problems. I was wondering if some of you that have been at this camping game some time might be able to answer them.

1. When towing, I sometimes can smell the engine and tyres getting hot and can smell a little bit of burning. Is this normal? Is it just something that happens when the wheels are hot and after we have been driving a while? All tyre pressures and water in the radiater are fine.

2. When we fill the on board water tank, we just leave the aquaroll outside empty with the pump inside it. Should the aquaroll be filled as someone told us we could burn the pump out if it isnt? Why is that, because if you are drawing water from the on board tank, why does the outside tank need to be full?

3. The kids have pulled the blinds up and now one has ripped across the stitching at the bottom, can these be replaced simply and cheaply or repaired?

4. Sometimes we can smell gas coming from the front locker, so have to turn the gas off at night. Someone mentioned that the black pipe we have should be replaced by an orange one and the smell will go - is this correct?

5. We were led in bed Saturday night and were so hot, we opened the sunroof but then it started pouring down, how can we keep cool? I've noticed the fire has a triangle and an A switch, would one of them blow out cold air?

6. When reversing the van onto a pitch with a small gradiant, my car almost packed up! There was a terrible smell and my car was overheating badly. I've read on some sites that I would have been burning my clutch out and that the only solution to this with my car is to buy a motor mover or a new clutch every now and then as it seems a common problem. What do you think of this? If I did buy a mover, which one, how much do they cost etc? Will I have done any permanent damage to my car now after having that smell, could I be looking at a new clutch soon?

I'm confused and know someone out there will have all the answers and sorry to ask so many questions. Thanks to you all in advance.

Quote: Originally posted by helen8785 on 06/6/2010

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1. When towing, I sometimes can smell the engine and tyres getting hot and can smell a little bit of burning. Is this normal? Is it just something that happens when the wheels are hot and after we have been driving a while? All tyre pressures and water in the radiater are fine.

It's not normal no - I wonder if our car isn't powerful to pull your caravan? have you checked your weights and noseweights?

2. When we fill the on board water tank, we just leave the aquaroll outside empty with the pump inside it. Should the aquaroll be filled as someone told us we could burn the pump out if it isnt? Why is that, because if you are drawing water from the on board tank, why does the outside tank need to be full?

We always fill ours as it draws from there

3. The kids have pulled the blinds up and now one has ripped across the stitching at the bottom, can these be replaced simply and cheaply or repaired?

ask your dealer

4. Sometimes we can smell gas coming from the front locker, so have to turn the gas off at night. Someone mentioned that the black pipe we have should be replaced by an orange one and the smell will go - is this correct?

I have never heard of that but once we could small gas too - it turned out the connector wasn't on properly

5. We were led in bed Saturday night and were so hot, we opened the sunroof but then it started pouring down, how can we keep cool? I've noticed the fire has a triangle and an A switch, would one of them blow out cold air?

we use an electric fan when it is really hot

6. When reversing the van onto a pitch with a small gradiant, my car almost packed up! There was a terrible smell and my car was overheating badly. I've read on some sites that I would have been burning my clutch out and that the only solution to this with my car is to buy a motor mover or a new clutch every now and then as it seems a common problem. What do you think of this? If I did buy a mover, which one, how much do they cost etc? Will I have done any permanent damage to my car now after having that smell, could I be looking at a new clutch soon?

Again this suggests that your car isn't powerful enough

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Don't think it will be the tyres you can smell getting hot. What leads you to believe its tyres? Much more likely a rubber hose of some sort under the bonnet. Tell us your car & van and someone will check it out for you. If the match is ok then I think you have some issues with your car that need to be checked out.

It is quite easy to burn the clutch when reversing. It needs to be done sympathetically. Keep the revs down and slip the clutch as little as possible. If it starts to smell then stop.  A mover is a solution but expensive. Better to stick to sites where you don't need to revers up a gradient.

The burning smell suggests the towcar is struggling with the caravan and is highlighted when reversing up a slight gradient.

I would agree with arc systems regarding the gas smell....You have children in the caravan with you so I would get this sorted ASAP.It could be a worn rubber pipe or a poor connection, whatever it is don't use the Gas if there is any sign of a leak.

According to the web, its seems to be a common problem with these Tuscans and the reversing. So hopefully a motor mover will sort it. I will get the gas sorted asap.

Your on board tank may be just for the hot water with cold being drawn straight in from the outside tank. Met a chap on site recently who had a problem with his water coming through. Tried with hot and you could hear the pump on the internal tank gurgling away. Tried taps on cold and nothing. Pointed to a dodgy connection drawing from the outside tank. Fiddled about with the outside pump and he got all water running. So keep the outside topped up.

As for burning it sounds like the engine is struggling to pul lthe van. As said earlier, check weight ration/match.

As for 5 try au naturelle!!!!

Phil

Go check your car/caravan match on this web site (www.whattowcar.com). I've put some figures in it that would suggest your Abbey is waaaay too heavy for your car. Not only will this not do your car a lot of good, it can be downright dangerous if you are an inexperienced tower. In strong side winds, or if you have a puncture on the van, you could end up in a situation where the "tail would be wagging the dog" i.e. the caravan starts to snake and before you know it, it will pull the back end of the car round with it and the whole outfit will "jack-knife".

Sorry to sound like the prophet of doom but over the years, I've seen many a caravan stuffed in a hedge or in little pieces all over the road. I'm sure an awful lot of these accidents were caused by a small(ish) car pulling a van that was for too heavy for it. When you add the weight of the passengers and all the luggage and other paraphenalia people cart around with them, your poor old car has its work cut out

We have just had a smell of gas in the box too, on a nearly new van!

The dealer has replaced the connector pipe from the fixed regulator to the bottle with a different type under warranty.

Gas hose has a date on it, after which it should be replaced, as do regulators, I think it may be 5 years-worth checking.

If your van is too heavy you may have clutch slip.

After reversing it is not uncommon to smell the clutch ! Try not to slip it.

Our Sorento has done it occasionally, we use low ratio sometimes so foot can be off the clutch!

We mainly use the motor mover-saves the clutch!

When reversing, some folks with deisel cars have a tendency to do what comes naturally, press the accelerator to make the engine move. With a deisel you don't need to do that. It will revese under its own power without your foot. Adding throttle to the reverse overheats the clutch/engine and you get the burning smell. So foot off the throttle and see, well, smell the difference.

Phil

It sounds like the car just won't cope with that caravan.  You need to change one or the other.  Any time you can smell the clutch, it has already worn quite a bit of the contact surface away.  You cannot slip the clutch, the pedal must be either up or down.

If you can smell gas, don't use it at all.  That needs to be found and fixed right away.

Jim

If you do change the car, change to an automatic - no more clutch burning (they have a torque converter to do that job). Bit more fuel used but worth it, IMO...

I think the problems you have with towing/burning smell etc needs to be checked out.  Check the kerbside weight of the car and aim for 85% of that - that will give you a guide as to what the car can cope with towing.

You need to check this yourself, for your own particular model, but the Hyundai Tucson is quoted here as having a kerbside weight of between 1617kg and 1698kg.  If we take the lowest figure, just for an example.  85% of 1617kg is 1374.45kg, therefore you should aim at towing a van with all the stuff in it as 1374.45kg (I would treat this as a maximum).  Hyundai say that you can tow up to 1600kg (Max tow weight kg Braked), but even after 20 years of towing experience I would still stick to the 85% guide (I accept there are other more confident that might tow up to 1600kg).

The MTPLM of the Abbey Safari (= maximum technical permissible laden mass, i.e. the maximum weight of your van with all the stuff in it) will vary according to the model and year.  I have just spotted a 2002 Abbey Safari 520S, 4 birth on ebay, which states the MTPLM is 1500kg (yours will probably be different, so check it out, or post the details here so that someone else may have the answer).   If this were your van and your car was the Tucson with the lowest kerbside weight, then, although not advisable, the car should be able to pull the van (- it can pull 1600kg but only 1374.45kg is 'advised/safe').

After checking this out, if the van is within the towing limit of the car, I suspect the burning smell etc., is a car or caravan problem so this needs to be sorted.  If the van is too heavy for the car, then this is where the problem probably lies.  In this case your only answer is to change the car or to change the van.

I appreciate that all this sounds a bit complicated, but for your safety, and the safety of others, please check it out.  At all stages check the specific figures for your car and caravan - mine are examples only.

Best of luck.  I hope you find the source of the problem soon.

Thanks for the advice everyone. The car and the van are not an exact match, its maybe 4kg too heavy, but surely that wouldnt kill the car and make it smell all that much?

I definatly think its a problem with the car trying to pull the car, but when you buy the van and the salesman says its ok for your car, then you beleive him, especially when your new to this game.  I do feel cheated though as the van is too heavy for the car, albeit only slightly.

The van does tow really well, it just doesnt like hills or reversing. I cant really afford to change either of them as we have only just purchased both of them and genuinly beleived I would be ok with the ratio. 

Will go for the motor mover and see if that helps, just hope it doesnt kill the car in the meantime.

If you mean 4Kg too heavy when fully loaded to its MTPLM then put the 4Kg in the car or review weights and see if you can get the same gear only lighter.

Phil