New owner performance help?

[myklb]

Just bought my first T25 after years of admiring. It's a 1.9 Water cooled Automatic. Couldn't be happier with it! It needs some TLC and perhaps a paint job but it was always going to be a project for me as well as an everyday vehicle.

However, today I came across a fairly steep hill...foot flat down it got to about 25mph. Is that normal? I've been using the WIKI which is great and been reading a load of posts but couldn't find one specific enough to me so thought I'd post myself.

Any help would be awesome. Got a load to sort so this and the Brick Yard is a huge help.

X

[Dazco]

Fairly steep? How steep? Sounds like you need to get used to the slow life
Big heavy bus and a fairly small engine means they are never gonna be fast up hill.
Having said that a simple tune up may make it a bit more sprightly. Plugs , leads , rotor, dizzy cap, fuel filter/s etc may help .
Daz

[kevtherev]

use your gears!
does it kick down when you floor it?

otherwise select a lower gear..just like decending a hill.

steep hills will slow you down..
There's a sticker you can buy "if you think this is slow, wait till we hit a hill"
It's not a modern car..it's an old heavy van.

[Combehatter]

For the previous 12 years I have been a company car driver and have been a little right footed! I'm currently in a Qashqai 1.6tdi and I thought it was a lumbering, slow chugalong motor - then I got my bus...

I was always of the view that I wanted to get to my destination as quickly as possible, time in the car is wasted time. We live in North Devon and regularly visit the Weymouth area and had that trip down to just under two hours. I have just done it in Bubba and it took four glorious hours there and five back! We noticed things I hadn't seen before on numerous occasions, we stopped for comfortable lunches/dinners in lovely picturesque spots and actually enjoyed the journey as much as the rest of the trip. It was a bit of an epiphany driving the long hills of the North Devon link road realising that there was no point in thrashing along, we just weren't going anywhere fast so just accept it, relax and let everybody overtake you (except for those poxy caravans, they have to know their place!)

An added benefit is that for the immediate hour or so of driving the Nissan directly after Bubba it feels like a go-kart!

Btw has anybody tried Porlock Hill in a T25? The idea both intrigues me and scares the crap out of me at the same time! I may give it a go in the summer!!

[ghost123uk]

Hi there and welcome in, from us in N. Shropshire

Yes it all depends on how steep the hill is, but 25mph does sound slow, unless it was very steep.

As Kev says, don't be afraid to rev it a bit, it's better for the engine than foot to the floor at lower revs, which puts a big strain on con rods and crank. If it has the correct rotor arm, it will have a rev limiter built into that, but best check that before relying on it. The rev limited one is easy to recognise if you look at it as it is more circular and complicated than your normal one. You can see the two types in these pictures.

Does you van get to say 65 mph on the flat in a reasonable time ? Just asking to help determine if it is down on power for some reason. (Later today I am going to do a standing start to 65mph time test, will report back, should be interesting).

Btw has anybody tried Porlock Hill in a T25? The idea both intrigues me and scares the crap out of me at the same time! I may give it a go in the summer!!

Porlock Hill thread on here

[Combehatter]

Thanks for that, maybe I will pluck up the courage for a go next year!

[tonytech]

I have a 2.1 auto.
Its a Caravelle with 7 seats, no camping interior.
It will quite happily do 70 - 80 on the level motorway.

If I'm fully loaded (Children and luggage) hills will slow me down a bit, but not to 25mph.
Its not too sluggish up hills either, but there is a knack to it.
Keep the van moving, dont expect it to accelerate up a hill, look well ahead and do the accelerating before you get there.

[myklb]

Hi, thanks for all the replies!

The hill I was talking about is Shibdon Bank in Blaydon...its about 12%...not sure what that is in gradient terms. The annoying thing is it's on a T junction so no way to build up some speed getting onto it. Its literally from a standing position.

I'll look into some performance tune ups as mentioned!

The throttle pedal is a bit dodgy, its been snapped off and re bodged by someone at some point so its very stiff and sticks at low speeds. It does kick down when I wrestle the pedal to the floor, the gear box seems pretty sound. I've had a few automatics and was surprised at how well the gearbox is working and smooth the changes were! next time at the the hill I'll try selecting 2 position (second gear) bit worried to switch between D and 2 whilst driving.

Im definitely going to have to find that sticker!

Each trip is a bit of an adventure which is fun. Don't mind the slower speeds just making sure it was normal! haha

65mph is top speed really...never seen 70. Takes a fair amount of time to hit 65mph, its mainly acceleration thats low...once it gets to 65 it can go smoothly and happily doesnt sound like its about to explode!

Thanks for all the help and welcomes!

X

[NicBeeee]

I always treat a hill as I would on a push bike, get your speed up before the climb keep lowering the gears until you end up in granny gear and spin as fast as you can. Seriously though I always try to keep the revs at 3000 whilst dropping the gears, failing that you could always holiday in Norfolk as long as you avoid castle hill in Norwich

[ghost123uk]

If you accelerator pedal has been messed with, I would for sure check that when you put your foot to the floor, the carb's butterfly valve is opening fully.

I had to bodge mine once, at the side of the road, just to get me home, and the bodge resulted in the carb only opening 3/4 the way, it resulted in very little change to top speed but impacted the acceleration a LOT !

[faggie]

hills dont really bother my van it will happily go up most hills in top gear , but the engine is slightly modified whats makes a difference , i used to own a diesel that really was slow and unbearable , is the throttle opening the carb fully as if not it could hinder your performance

[Tobyt25]

My 2.0l air cooled does most hills at 40mph but will slow down to 25mph on a very steep incline 2nd gear.

If you want to go fast in a t25, get a Subaru impreza 2.2turbo conversion. Just type in 'Vanagon SVX Subaru testdrive' in YOUTUBE to see how fast you can go... Looks pretty awesome. But these van are for driving slowly and enjoying the scenery, if i want to get somewhere fast i go in my Honda 2.2tdi and leave the van at home.

[123-jn]

I have a 1.9 AUTO Hi-Top, It does slow down quite a lot on hills. It will do 70 on the flat. We went to wales this year and we went up crossfoxes pass which is 1:4 at the top, My van was down to around 10-15 mph in second gear, she would not change down to 1st!! I forgot I could have manually locked her down if I'd have thought about it. In Aberystwyth there is a long hill more like 1:5 this knocks us down to 15-20 mph. Hope this helps.
My engine is in pieces at present I'm hoping after the rebuild to have 1 or 2 extra horses.

[Dazco]

If you wanna go fast up a hill buy a bike with a f££££££ big engine .