What to check before you tow to the lake

Towing a boat is the hardest thing most vehicles ever do, and doing it at 115°F removes whatever margin was left. Twenty minutes before you leave prevents most of what goes wrong.

What to check before towing a boat: cooling comes first

Towing raises engine load, which raises heat, at exactly the time of year when the outside air can absorb the least of it. Every marginal cooling component shows itself under those conditions.

Check the coolant level and its condition. Feel the hoses: firm and slightly pliable is right, hard and glassy or spongy and swollen is not. Look at the radiator face for packed dust and debris, which happens quickly on unpaved access roads. Confirm the fans run by letting the engine idle to temperature with the air conditioning on.

And know the rule for the road itself: if the gauge climbs, turn the AC off and the heater to full hot, then stop. Continuing is how a $300 thermostat becomes a head gasket.

Reading this with one of these in front of you? One call, one local mobile mechanic company serving Lake Havasu City, and you get their name before anyone comes out.

Call (928) 985-5477

Transmission, the quiet casualty

Automatic transmissions generate a great deal of heat under tow, and heat is what kills them. Fluid that is dark or smells burnt is telling you it has already been cooked.

Before a towing season: check the fluid level and condition according to the manufacturer's procedure, which on many modern vehicles is not a simple dipstick. If the vehicle tows regularly, follow the severe-service interval rather than the normal one, whatever the "lifetime fill" language says.

If your vehicle has a tow or haul mode, use it. It changes shift points and reduces the gear hunting that generates heat on grades.

Brakes, and the descent

Weight means heat here too. The load that finds weak brakes is a long descent, not a hard stop.

Check pad thickness and rotor condition before the season. Consider a brake fluid flush if it has been more than two or three years, because fluid absorbs moisture over time and moisture lowers the boiling point, which is exactly what produces a soft pedal on a long grade.

On the trailer: confirm the brakes engage and are adjusted, that the controller in the tow vehicle is set for the actual load, and that the breakaway battery is alive.

On the road, use a lower gear on descents and let the engine do the work rather than holding the pedal down for two miles.

Tyres, hitch and the ten-minute stop

Tyres. Set pressures cold, on both the tow vehicle and the trailer, to the load rather than to the sidewall maximum. Check date codes; sun kills trailer tyres before mileage does. Look for sidewall cracking.

Hitch and coupler. Properly seated and latched, safety chains crossed under the coupler, breakaway cable attached to the vehicle rather than to the chains.

Lights. Have someone confirm brake lights, indicators and running lights on the trailer, not just the truck.

The ten-minute stop. Pull over shortly after setting off and check the hubs by hand, the coupler, the chains and the load. One hub hotter than the others is the single most useful early warning a trailer gives you, and this is when you catch it.

Water. Always, for everyone in the vehicle. A breakdown on a summer afternoon here is a heat problem before it is a mechanical one.

Questions this guide gets asked

Does towing need a different oil? Not usually a different type, but often a shorter interval. Towing is severe service by every manufacturer's definition.

Should I add a transmission cooler? On a vehicle that tows regularly in this heat, it is one of the better preventive investments. Ask a mechanic about your specific vehicle and load.

My truck tows fine but the gauge sits higher. Normal? Somewhat higher under load is expected. A needle that keeps climbing rather than stabilising is not.

Can a mobile mechanic do a pre-tow check at my house? Yes, and that is the ideal place for it, with the trailer attached so both halves get looked at together.

See the cooling page and the trailer page.