Carry that weight

Question

Carry that weight

Holden Holden Advice Holden Commodore Holden Commodore Advice Holden Commodore 2005

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WHILE towing my caravan back from Melbourne on my Commodore VS I burned out the automatic. The mechanic who fitted the exchange box asked what gear I towed in. I told him Drive and he explained to me that you should never tow a load in fourth gear or Drive. The box was designed to tow in third gear. There is no instruction about this in the handbook, even for recent-model Holdens. Since then I have been told by several mechanics that you should tow loads only in third. Is this common only to Holden or can the same happen in other vehicles?

Answered by CarsGuide

4 March 2005

Carsguide.com.au

YOUR problem is a common one with the VS Commodore. Geoff Clay of CPA Automatic Transmissions says your problem was most likely caused by wear in the auto trans valve body, which results in a loss of oil pressure and increased slippage in the torque converter, which leads to your problem when under the load of towing. It would have happened whether you were in third or Drive. His recommendation is to tow in Drive as you were doing. The problem is a result of Holden changing from a cast-iron valve body to a die-cast one in the VS models.

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Carry that weight

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