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<x-charset iso-8859-1>Greg, Engines can lug when load is too heavy and uphill, put in a bigger motor. Towing with an automatic in other cars is routine , even some big tow trucks around here have them. The issue is when people use their car for towing excessive loads . the tourque converter fins in our cars is used for cooling the fluid, the fluid is heated by fliud friction in the converter , similar to a purposly slipping clutch and some heat is created when shifting as the clutch plates engage and disengage, very similar to a motorcycle's clutch in a manual bike tranny. When over doing the load, the heat accumulates and the fluid characteristics may fail and wear soft parts out . In the old days, like the 1950's, autotrannies did not have oil coolers , today all cars/trucks have tranny fluid coolers, the bigger the tow the bigger the cooler , they can even have giant aftermarket coolers. our cars do not have this option , I wish I can incorpoarate this into the autotranny. Do you know if those VW busses of the 80's that share a similar tranny have the cooling setup ? I think some people overloaded the trailer and made the tranny fail. Fluid must be changes more often when towing, just like the engine's oil. I think that is why the owner's manual does not recommend it. I have loaded my car with three 250 pound guys including me at 160 and my car did not have problems with the tranny , even though it was a 4 hour trip on the hwy. An autotranny will burn itself out when towng uphill and stuck in the mud while desperately accelerating and stopping. The same goes for a manual, the clutch will burn. I have done in both this way during camping trips while towing and gooing through some muddy spots. The secret to autotrany long life is to change the fluid after heavy use and regularly, this goes the same for the engine's motor oil. I have a 40 year old autotranny in a truck that still works after many many miles of work but the fluid was changed when engine oil was changed, the tranny was never overhauled. LEON MARTINEZ 1969 SQUAREBACK EFI/AUTO SAN DIEGO AND TIJUANA ============================================================================ ================= What about the owner's manual discouraging the use of an A/T car as a tow vehicle? What is the real issue here? Is it some sort of transmission overheating? slippage/wear during sifts? early shifting under a load, which could cause lugging/undercooling of the engine? -Greg ------------------------------------------------------------------- List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list or mailto:help@vwtype3.org </x-charset>