TOWING/BLACK SMOKE

[flyfishn]

So I just did my first road trip towing with the boler. I didn't think I was going to make it up the hill on the highway between Taylor Way and 15th St. Also there was a lot of smoke. Coming up the hill out of Langdale was brutal too. How do you guys manage to tow on the Coq? I slipped well below 70K. The boler weighs less than 1500lbs. My foot was alomost to the floor board on the gas.

When it is just the family and we are coming up the Cut, we bog down to unde 70K as well. Is this the norm?

[Arnold6019]

I own a business which uses a ton of canned goods and other really heavy stuff from Costco....We load the Delica to the roof and also have a roof rack which we fill with quite a bit of stock. I don't really know the weight of all this stuff but you know the big orange carts at Costco..3 of those with the stuff piled about a foot over the hand rail. With all this weight really don't have a problem on hills although the Delica is certainly not a powerhouse at the best of times.

[BCDelica]

After many summers of doing the same can say your results about speed are on par. Having done many trips mostly heavily loaded; towing 1600lbs of boat, or camping gear plus veggie jugs, or 2-4 guys, gear and (of course) veggie jugs - kept my speed under 60 kph on the Coke, hills in the Fraser Canyon, and the hill headed west on the 24 outta Little fort. Never minded in the slightest the max 60 at WOT.

BC is better traveling slow - more to see.

But yes at the beginning of the trip well weighted down either Delica smoke like mad; BUT only for the first hill or climb with my foot all the way down. Felt it really gave engine a good cleaning of it's lungs because it always run almost smoke free following that first big blast of black. Could be your IP timing is off or your EGR valve is sticking, have you had a Delica tune?. A lightly loaded Delica has done 80 for me over the Coke, but I kept it under 70 to keep the turbo cool as it was hot August day.

[flyfishn]

I just got it from Mardy a month ago and he said he tuned her up.

[marsgal42]

All diesels smoke to a certain extent under load.

Our Delicas are old-school low-tech diesels. They can smoke a lot under load. Have you never watched a transit bus or 18 wheeler accelerate?

...laura

[mararmeisto]

Here's the best way to tow something with a Delica (or carry a lot of stuff in the back where the people usually sit): S L O W L Y .

If you want to fly along the Coq at 140km/h, only slowing down to 90km/h on the really big hills, get yourself a large, tandem axled, fifth-wheel-with-towing-package-and-an-8-litre-engined truck.

Otherwise, you'll have to ease off the accelerator, shift down, and enjoy the scenery passing by outside the window. If you're blowing black - you're wasting fuel.

There really is no other way. It's only an 85hp engine, in a 2 tonne, brick-shaped vehicle.

[BCDelica]

Flyfishn did I mention that most of our trips were for fly fishing......

Mararmeisto is right, if you want to travel 120-140 up the hill get a chipped American diesel truck with a 5 inch exhaust - and than pity the fools you leave behind with that tremendous continuous jet of black smoke left in your wake. Seriously that was the only thing about the Cariboo that ever bothered me - because these seem drivers are the stupidest fisherman out there at times. Last experience was two such yahoos; at the launch they complained about how the Caddies hatches are nothing like they used to be yet here they where with two trucks, two boats, and 4 outboard motors on a not to big lake. But I could go on with other stories, but a veggie Delica carrying four guys with Fish cats is a bit of improvement.

EGR? Was it blanked off or thoroughly cleaned?

[glenn]

Otherwise, you'll have to ease off the accelerator, shift down, and enjoy the scenery passing by outside the window. If you're blowing black - you're wasting fuel.

exactly right! You either drive slow with little smoke, or drive a little faster with lots of smoke. I'm always less self conscious about a slow speed than I am about a cloud of smoke.

There are times when the lack of power gets to me, and I have been known to rant about it a little, but . . . I still love these vans for everything else they have to offer, and for the most part don't mind leaving the fast pace back at home. Basically, your van sounds normal. I'm considering painting my trailer dark gray so the soot from my exhaust doesn't look so obvious.

[flyfishn]

Thanks everyone. I am not into breaking any land speed records. I drive the Upper Levels to work and I love cruising at 90. I was just concerned about the noticable drop in speed and was wondering if I would start going backwards soon. I heard the maximum tow rate of a deli was 4000lbs, yet when I sell the Boler and get a tent trailer I do not want anything heavier than 1500lbs.

[mararmeisto]

Not sure where you've read/heard of 4000 lbs towing capacity, but I wouldn't pull that much on anything other than level ground.

I'm now onto my fourth trailer, trying to get my camping/towing arrangement 'right', and I'm now down to 500kg as a personal maximum. I've found that the van still responds best around that weight. I've towed heavier (920kg, I think was the all-time max), but I just found it was just that bit too much beyond a half tonne or three-quarter tonne.

But that's just me.

We looked at Bolers, but with four children, two adults and two dogs, all the gear, etc, the trailer had to get lighter and lighter, and a Boler just wasn't looking like it was going to work. If you can make it work, good luck - they compliment the look of the van quite nicely.