T5 Auto gearbox WEAK?

[Ivo]

My dad has been considering selling his Falcon and buying a T5 Multivan that they would use to tow their 1400kg caravan all over the country when he retires.

The local auction yard had a van the same as mine come up this week and he decided to call a respected Auto trans shop and see what they knew about towing with them and if they had any problems.

The guy said they do not handle towing a heavy load and basically blow up. A replacement box is $5k and he would not recommend an auto T5 for towing a heavy load and then went on to say that they have worked on a T5 owned by a builder who has the van loaded and tows a heavy trailer and he has had major problems.

As any one else heard this? If you do tow with an auto have you had any problems and how heavy is the trailer?

On a side note the 05 Multivan with 48000km sold pre-auction for $29700.

[gregozedobe]

There was a thread about problems with a T5 autobox on the brickyard forum. It had done big miles as a taxi (no mention of towing). It seems there was a design problem with his gearbox (the fix was pretty expensive).

http://www.brick-yard.co.uk/forum/tiptronic-autobox-failure_topic37033.html

[Tornado T5]

I hope your info is wrong. I tow regularly, literally planning for tomorrow as I type and I'll have in the trailer a 1380kg payload (500kg tare for the trailer so gross is over 1800kg), with another 500Kg in the van and a round trip of say 300km. Next week it will be a slightly heavier load and longer run. I would love an auto AWD T5 just to help with some of the steep wet dirt/gravel driveways of some farms otherwise all has been great over the 60K so far. Just thinking about it what other van could you buy, Transits don't come in auto's for the current model, I don't think the Vito would be any stronger than a T5 and the other euro's don't have the towing ability, a large 4wd would probably be best yet you won't get the outright load carrying volume of a van. Which model Falcon do they own because as far as Australian built cars go, imho, nothing beats them for towing if set up properly and our family has gone from XP's new in the '60's to BA's/FG's?

[Ivo]

I hope the info is wrong and it is just a one off. What I dont know is if the auto-shop guy has seen several blow up or just the one.

Their Falcon is about 2 years old, they have injection LPG and have fitted air bags to the rear. It does tow the van very well. They were just thinking a T5 would give them a few more options but I think they may have gone off the idea now and are going to keep the Falcon.

[Tornado T5]

I hope the info is wrong and it is just a one off. What I dont know is if the auto-shop guy has seen several blow up or just the one.

Their Falcon is about 2 years old, they have injection LPG and have fitted air bags to the rear. It does tow the van very well. They were just thinking a T5 would give them a few more options but I think they may have gone off the idea now and are going to keep the Falcon.

The T5 will produce better economy when towing however the $/km of LPG is still superior especially with an injected LPG system. My old T4 manual would hit 21L/100km on LPG with the older LPG system when towing while now my diesel T5 auto never gets higher averages then 12.0L/100km in hilly terrain. They'd have a BF I'd guess and in this current climate I'd hang on to it unless money is no object. Sure the T5 would be great however unless they need the extra storage space or prefer the higher driving position I'd keep the Ford.

[linds]

Another vote for the Ford, some of the things I've seen them towing is immense, and if they have the correct tow pack from Ford, you can tow 2300kg, so that's the go imho.

[gregozedobe]

The vehicle you already have is nearly always the cheapest to own, after you take into account all the less obvious costs of ownership of a new vehicle eg depreciation, stamp duty, rego and insurance changeover costs, setting up the new vehicle (towbar electrics can be very $$$$ for T5s). Here in the ACT we get charged "commercial" rego and 3rd party personal insurance rates even if our van is used totally privately.

Fuel economy usually only becomes a bigger factor if you do lots of driving.

[Ivo]

They understand the cost implications of swapping cars. They have also owed two Microbus's years ago and they know just how practical a VW van is but they are going to stick with the Falcon.

I'm still very interested in the strength of the auto boxes though.

[Tornado T5]

They understand the cost implications of swapping cars. They have also owed two Microbus's years ago and they know just how practical a VW van is but they are going to stick with the Falcon.

I'm still very interested in the strength of the auto boxes though.

I'm less than 3000km away from my 60K service and although not required according to the service manual I remember now bringing up with the dealer service manager whether it's wise to do a tranny oil change. I'm going to ask about any troubles or common issues they might have experienced in T5 auto's. If you look at the Brickyard link the troubles posted were for a T5 with over 204,500 miles (approx 326,000km) so that's bloody long driving before a major problem although admitedly it wasn't doing towing, I think chauffeur work.

[zoinks]

well I work at Toll Priority and we have alot of T5's in our fleet. The vans are privately owned so I would assume the owner's are not thrashing the hell out of them but here in vic we have had about 4 or 5 gearbox blows in the last 12 months. Initially it was the 1.9's going but recently there have been a couple 2.5's going aswell. Makes me glad I got a 6 spd for the kind of work and k's we do. Anyway there has been word that the oil in the auto boxes is getting very hot and the standard oil cooler cant get the job done. A few of the guys are looking at upgrading the oil coolers. They seem to be going at around the 100k mark give or take 10k. Anyway just a heads up for you auto boys.

[20vkitcar]

I would agree that a t4 auto is somewhat weak...as for the t5 I dont think so, having covered some 140ks with a 2.5 6sp auto that its primary use is moving big heavy cars its been problem free....I did change the oil at 100k.1.4t behind a T5 will be fine, my average tow weight is close to 1.8t and return 600k to a tank full and I drive hard ask anyone who knows me .It bugs me that some people who give advice arent qualified/ justified with the answers....proof is in the pudding .....I would have travelled with a full loaded trailer for some 90,000ks.....bus is stk std....cheers steve

[Rebuild]

mine's coming up around 95K km now,did oil/filter change at 75K.

Seems fine so far.
Ideally, would like to increase the line pressure, so it doesn't slip so much(or seem to).Can do this for the T4's with a simple ratchet fitting on the valve body.Not so with the T5's

[Silver Caravelle]

I would agree that a t4 auto is somewhat weak...as for the t5 I dont think so, having covered some 140ks with a 2.5 6sp auto that its primary use is moving big heavy cars its been problem free....I did change the oil at 100k.1.4t behind a T5 will be fine, my average tow weight is close to 1.8t and return 600k to a tank full and I drive hard ask anyone who knows me .It bugs me that some people who give advice arent qualified/ justified with the answers....proof is in the pudding .....I would have travelled with a full loaded trailer for some 90,000ks.....bus is stk std....cheers steve

My take on the T4 box was that many failed because trady's overloaded, and towed heavy loads in their T4 transporters cooking the autos and did not reguarly service with OEM oil. My previous T4 Caravelle had no problems what so ever with its auto, with oil actually quite clean at each service. But then again I was carrying around the family only not towing or overloading vehicle, and changing oil and filters every 40k to 50k.

My T5 Multivan now has 10K on the clock. So far so good!


Regards,

Scott

[zoinks]

towing has nothing to do with it. The gross train weight for a T5 128kw is 5.2tonne with a brake assisted trailer. How many of you or tradies exceed that limit? Thats a 2.5t trailer plus 700kg in the van.

we run our vans pretty much all day everyday. thats where the issue is occuring. alledgedly the tranny oil is getting too hot in some of the vans. Its no problem if your under warranty they just replace the box, but your up for 5K if you've done over 100K with a standard warranty.

The proof is indeed in the pudding. Its happening.

I dropped my van in for service today and got a loan van for the day. 2.5 crewvan auto. The box feels terrible and its only done 23,000k's.

[Silver Caravelle]

towing has nothing to do with it. The gross train weight for a T5 128kw is 5.2tonne with a brake assisted trailer. How many of you or tradies exceed that limit? Thats a 2.5t trailer plus 700kg in the van.

we run our vans pretty much all day everyday. thats where the issue is occuring. alledgedly the tranny oil is getting too hot in some of the vans. Its no problem if your under warranty they just replace the box, but your up for 5K if you've done over 100K with a standard warranty.

The proof is indeed in the pudding. Its happening.

I dropped my van in for service today and got a loan van for the day. 2.5 crewvan auto. The box feels terrible and its only done 23,000k's.

If you are referring to my post, it was in reference to the comment about T4 auto boxes not the T5.

Regards,

Scott