Does your engine temp rise when towing in stop/start traffic?

Hi Garbage, Engine cooling, and hence temperature, is dependant on both the load and the amount of air passing through the radiator. Generally, sufficient air passes at vehicle speeds of about 60km/h to maintain design engine temperature and normal load. At 60 or higher speed more air is pushed through the radiator than the fan can produce. At lower speeds the engine is more dependant on the fan for air volume and it is usually only capable of handling enough air for low loads such as idling. A good electric fan does better at low engine speeds as it is not slowed to engine idling speeds. So you can expect a rise in temperature under some conditions.

The worst zone is of course a high vehicle load combined with a low vehicle speed such as you encountered in the traffic crawl. An electric fan would help here but running the air conditioner would make the situation worse as it consumes more engine energy but even more dissipates heat in front of the radiator.

Certainly hill climbing will exacerbate the problem and it could be wise to not use full throttle but still keep the speed up to 70-80 in order to maintain the air flow. Keep an eye on the temperature gauge but expect it to rise under load conditions. As long as it stays below the "red line" you should be OK. If on a long hill you are becoming concerned, switch off the air conditioner until over the hill top.

Most temperature gauges are designed to work effectively from approx 60 degrees through to 110-115. The mid range of this 85-90 is roughly what most cars thermostats will maintain the engine temperate too. Most later model vehicle with thermo-electric fans will switch on around 95 degrees and under all conditions are designed to cool the temperature, not just maintain it.
If your gauge is reaching75-80% i'd suggest you gauge is doing it's job in alerting you that their is a potential problem and you need to get it checked. A partially blocked radiator (internally or externally), low coolant level, failing water pump and many other things will give you these symptoms.
Take it to your mechanic and have them check it thoroughly.
Manufacturers design the cooling system to cope with towing loads, if it's not cooling correctly, there's an issue.
A five degree hotter day could see you parked on the side of the road with a very unhappy family.

Dan

garbage,

"I have a standard 2.0L car with a towing capacity of approx 1100 kgs. I have previously towed a fully loaded 750 kg ATM box trailer without any issue. I have recently upgraded to a camper trailer, also 750 kg ATM but certainly feels heavier than the previous trailer"
It might also pay to load your trailer up as if going away and take it to a weigh bridge to get a real idea on what it actually weighs.
Cheers Dave.

Garbage, what type of vehicle do you have ?? Regards Steve

Garbage, yesterday was an absolute stinker of a day, and what you describe for the F3 crawl, seems pretty normal to me, especially with the traffic jam you encountered.

For peace of mind, I would check that you have adequate coolant additive in the water, even if it means changing the lot and refreshing it, and also maybe have the thermostat & waterpump checked. You struck a stinker of a day for that trip , and everyone elso on that road would have had similar problems.

You will find on your trip to Jindabyne, that your temp will be much more constant once the "big Smoke" is in the rear vision mirror. There are not too many hills to worry about from Sydney to Jindabyne, via Canberra.

Safe travels, Fred.