Your tow vehicles engine works harder when towing.

We're guessing you already knew that; but do you realise the effects on your engine?

Whatever the vehicle, whatever it's engine, when it's being worked as a tow vehicle it's working harder. Specifically the engine and transmission.

The average weight of a caravan on the UK's roads is typically between 1000kg and 1650kg. In old money roughly between 1 tonne and 1.6 tonnes. To those of you that already tow a caravan or large trailer regularly these figures would seem perfectly normal and acceptable.

As long as you are towing a load that is within your vehicles capabilities you should never have a problem with safety and the boys in blue! (Always check your vehicles handbook!)

From our point of view as a supplier of engine care products, we have serious doubts over engine load issues. What we mean put simply is that although a vehicle is capable of towing the extra weight and is theoretically designed to do just that, was it designed to do it often? Plus, on top of that, was it designed to last on cheap fuel?

We deal primarily with the issues concerning engines that are used everyday for everyday type driving. The sort of activities the engine as well as the rest of the vehicle was specifically designed for. Now, increasingly we are seeing issues with hard worked engines that are used often to pull the extra weight of either a trailer or caravan.

After all, have you ever seen an advert for a car that is made specifically for towing?

Carbon build-up, oil degradation and simply wear and tear are the main killers of any vehicles engine and when towing, the effects are a lot greater!

So, to keep this short, if you tow extra weight often, give your engine some more attention and we really recommend a can of Injector Cleaner at the end of each season just to keep it clean and efficient and blow away any extra build-ups as a result of towing!

We love motor homes and everything about them but they have one of the most neglected engines out there!

The reason is simply that people don't always realise what a motor home essentially is. Basically, most are a standard commercial van chassis with a caravan bolted on top of it. So, you have an engine that is sometimes under powered simply because of the weight it has to drag around. Now, for those of us who have deeper pockets, there are the bigger engined variants available but these are mainly supplied on the bigger 6 berth motor homes or as an expensive upgrade option on the smaller variants, even they work hard!

Servicing is usually very basic because the mileage is often very low and constitutes an oil change once a year. As we have mentioned elsewhere on this website, the oil change is considered as one of the most important servicing requirements of any engine. On a motor home however, the engine is under extreme load every time it is driven simply because of the weight. Keeping these engines clean and efficient is paramount to maintaining good fuel consumption and performance. Not to mention the desire to decrease engine repair costs later down the line due to neglect.

It is meant to be a leisure vehicle and not a burden, so for the sake of a 'few quid', treat it at least once a year to a can of injector cleaner and a can of Engine Flush at every oil change!

Towing makes your engine work harder, we keep it running keener!

 "Ideal for us recession-hit motorists, the fluids can reduce emissions, improve economy and let your engine run sweeter. For DIY use or buy to take to your mechanic!"

~ Clive White, The Caravan Club Magazine (Oct 2008, Page 109)