99 Nissan Altima, towed via tow rope approx 5 miles after it sat for 3 months or so. I found out later that you are not supposed to tow an automatic like this.
The issue is that the lubrication pumps in the transmission are powered by the engine, so all of the moving parts in the drive train that aren’t disconnected when the car is in neutral don’t get proper lubrication while it is being towed. The faster and farther you tow it, the more damage you’ll do.
If you went reasonably slow and only went five miles, I wouldn’t say that was exactly kind on the transmission, but other than a bit of minor wear and tear I doubt that you did any major damage.
Did you put the transmission into neutral?
If so, you’ll be fine, that’s how it’s normally done
It’s ok for some cars, not for others. It depends on the design of the transmission. If you are towing a front wheel drive automatic transmission car any significant distance (like behind an RV) the usual recommendation is to put the front wheels on a dolly.
The car’s users manual should say whether it’s ok to tow it in neutral or not.
They make transmission lube pumps for towing purposes. I’ve never used one and have no idea how well they work.
5 miles at 20 MPH? You should be fine. 5 Miles at 75 MPH? Good luck with that!
Towing with all four tires on the ground is often called “flat towing”.
OK, according to Nissan Service Bulletin NTB99-020c, Flat towing your Altima should Not be done.
• DO NOT tow any automatic transmission/transaxle Nissan vehicle with all four
wheels on the ground (flat towing). Doing so WILL DAMAGE internal
transmission/transaxle parts due to lack of lubrication (the
transmission/transaxle oil pump only operates while the engine is running).
It then goes on to say: For “emergency towing” procedures refer to the limited MPH / distance
procedures as outlined in the vehicle’s Owners Manual.
Do you have an owners manual? I do not. If you do, look it up and share the info with us please.
the day of the overheat it was towed maybe a half mile to get it off the freeway, probably around 45ish mph
I do but its with the car which is nowhere near here. I can take a look at it on Saturday, Maybe friday.
I’ve got this cool tool called the internet here you can find almost anything!
Under 30 mph, under 40 miles
Good to know! Your Google Foo is much better than mine is. Where did you find it?
Thanks, 48.
Googled 1999 Nissan Altima Owner’s Manual. First hit.
Found it in the shaded box on the top left of Section 6 page 12.
Using my math, logic, and advanced mechanical knowledge that is at the same extreme level as my Google foo… you only went 5 miles instead of 40 which is an eighth so you should be able to go 8 times as fast. As long as you kept it under 240 mph you should be fine.
OP Posted,
Sitting for a few months is equal to 200 miles per month.
So you just towed it for 6-8 HUNDRED Miles :eek:
Of course that is a WAG, but honestly there is a difference.
Good Luck!
That’s not true. It depends on the transmission.
Although the hydraulic drive/lubrication system in the transmission isn’t being powered while towing, the transmission itself is not ‘transmitting’ any power. It’s not being ‘driven’ by the engine so therefore it isn’t ‘driving’ or powering the wheels. Point is there’s very little stress being put on any of the components of the transmission while ‘coasting’ like this therefore high pressure lubrication to its parts isn’t as important.
That short a distance at that low a speed, forget about it…
again, it depends on the transmission. Some are designed to towed. Any vehicle that is towed is spinning the output shaft.
Well does it run now? You should have dropped the drive shaft. But if it runs now is the big question.
I don’t get this logic at all… I store my “fun” car for 4-5 months each year and it suffers no wear and tear. We are talking about friction on an un-lubricated transmission. Once the lube drains out it doesn’t matter if it is two weeks or two months. Unless you are talking about moisture, corrosion, or rust in which case you have a much different problem.
That’s kind of hard to do on a front wheel drive car.
The rest of the story is that I had a major overheat on the freeway, blew the headgasket at the absolute least, probably the head. Oil came out of the 2 center plugs.
and I am to broke to fix it atm.
And are you towing this fun car or are you starting it up and maybe idling it a few min before hitting the road?
And who told you that there is “No” wear-N-tear?
Ever heard of Pre-Lubing an engine? Here is some talk
No, the overheating on the highway probably didn’t have anything to do with it getting towed on four wheels, unless you drove the thing a long distance with the transmission slipping or something like that. There’d be other symptoms there though.
I will admit this is maybe venturing into sort of conspiracy theory territory here, but I’ve been somewhat suspicious of how quickly almost all the car makers switched their towing recommendations. In just a few years around 2005 or so, they pretty much all started permitting towing with the drive wheels on the ground, sometimes even with no apparent mechanical updates. My hunch is that they realized they were losing sales to RVers who specifically buy cars to tow behind and decided whatever potential long-term grief it may be causing the transmission wasn’t bad enough to keep the prohibition in the manual.