Damage to towed car on A Frame Forums

richard863

Hi All

Ever felt sick as a parrot Sad

I have been towing our 2 year old Citroen C2 for some 5000 miles now, the odometer mileage shows 17595.
Wednesday week we towed it back from Peterborough to Milton Keynes arriving as it just got dark, parked the vehicles on the drive until the morning.

In the the morning I disconnected the A Frame and set off to the other side of MK to pick up a parcel some 10 miles return. I was aware of a bearing type howl after about 2 miles. There was no adverse steering or brake pulling problems whilst driving.

On getting home and I noticed there was a 3" molten hole in the centre of the plastic hub cap (wheel trim) on the drivers side and on the passenger side it was starting to melt.

I called the RAC to get it to our local Citroen dealer ( the one we bought it from & knew we were going to tow it) as I thought it was still under warranty (we have/Had) a 3 year warranty. The garage staff said they had seen nothing like this in 25 years.

The upshot of this is after having the car for 7 working days awaiting the Citroen inspector to sanction warranty work. We were told he would not be coming as the car was over 18 months old and had a non Citroen part fitted, it was their opinion the following £3500 of damage was due to the vehicle being towed.

One is not covered on a fully comprehensive policy as the vehicle was not in a accident. So other avenues we have explored are dead ends and we have to suffer the loss Crying or Very sad

The damage is everything to do with the braking and drive shafts from the gearbox to the hub cap and was all subject to extreme heat generation which we understand has damaged the gearbox.

No one is prepared to qualify which was the first defect, the master cylinder sticking on or bearing failure. The RAC & AA are not prepared to inspect the car at all, they both gave crap excuses.

So any one have any ideas on what I do next? Except put my pensioners heating allowance and the promised Christmas £10 from No11 towards it.

I tried getting plastered, kicking the dog, drowning the fish. Nothing worked.

Kind regards

richard863

I forgot to mention. The handbrake was off, the gear stick was in neutral, we pushed the car upto the towing hitch, the brake pedal was depressed a few times to ensure the vacuum was exhausted.

At no time did the van feel as though car behind was acting other than normal.

peedee

Did you tow it whilst in gear instead of neutral. Fail to see how drive shaft and gear box could be otherwise effected? Brakes yes, it would not be too difficult to damage them especially if you left the car's hand brake on.

I have been towing the same car now for over 6 years without any problem whatsoever.

peedee

ps looks like you beat me to it with a further post. Does your handbook confirm the car is suitable to tow at speed and for an unlimited distance?

richard863

Hi Peedee

Thanks for the reply.

The car was without a shadow of doubt in neutral and hand brake off, the vacuum system was exhausted and the bungee connected. The ignition key was in and the steering free.
My only thoughts are. Did the overrun system work and the master cylinder stick on? If thats possible. Could I have had double bearing failure due to castering of the wheels working against the idol power steering mechanism?

Kind regards

bouncer

Can't help other than to say you could have it independantly inspected (there are several on internet that do that), although I understand it can be rather expensive..

Really bad luck, sorry to hear of your misfortune.

Rapide561

Hi Richard

I think I posted this at the time but here goes...

Back in April, I was travelling through Belgium on our way to Calais. This was the other Kontiki towing the Corsa on an A Frame. I was lucky to have my friend with me at the time.

We stopped at the services near Mons for a coffee and so on. After 30 mins or so, I started the Kontiki engine, took off the handbrake - and nothing. No amount of revving could get me moving. I tried to reverse fo a few inches. No joy. I checked the Corsa handbrake - off. I pumped the Corsa foot brake and then tried to set off again. No way Jose. In the end I uncoupled, and themotorhome moved with ease. The Corsa still would not go under it's own steam. I tried it again - and it went. I recoupled and hey presto - all was well.

Neither my pal or me could offer any explanation. I felt at the wheels etc and all was normal. The brakes must have been stuck on, but.....

Personally, I shall be glad to get my scooter and do away with towing altogether.

Russell

On a different note, I am sorry to read of your woes.

geraldandannie · Moderator

Sorry to hear of your problems, Richard. That's a huge bill Crying or Very sad

Gerald

Rapide561

Richard

I have re read your post again and just taken in the fact the damage may have occurred whilst not actually towing.

If the RAC/AA won't do a check, then I think an independant is needed.

Russell

falken

I've been racking my brains trying to think what could heat a wheel hub up so far it melts the hub cap on both sides of the car AND wrecks the gearbox.
a. If you'd left the car in gear it would in all probability wrecked the engine not the gearbox.
b. If the handbrake was on then the rear brakes would have failed.
c. If the overrun brakes had stuck on as some are prone to do, it MIGHT have generated enough heat to melt a hubcap but I'm sure you'd have noticed.
d. If the steering wheel lock was on then this almost certainly would have put a massive amount of wheel scrub and may have damaged the wheel bearing and even possibly the CV joints but I still can't see how the gearbox would be damaged. I'm pretty certain you'd see signs of damage on the tyre.
I am sorry but I can't think of anything else.
As far as the insurance goes you MAY be covered. They won't pay out for the CAUSE of the damage but they might pay for the effect. A neighbour at the time had a rear wheel puncture at speed and his car dropped down. He then hit a rock in the road which damaged the diff. They wouldn't pay for the tyre but they did pay out for the other damage. Hey, if you've got legal cover on your policy you could use that to persue them.

Regards
Doug