New Antara Owner

[Richy]

Hi All



I guess I should introduce myself. Called myself Richy. I purchased a 62 plate Antara approx 3 months ago to tow my caravan. Being a keen DIY mechanic and just taken my retirement I have been doing a few jobs on the car and been reading up on the forum to gather information.



The car had done 47,000 miles when purchased and jobs carried out so far include replacing the alternator pulley, engine oil, gearbox oil, transfer box oil and diff oil. My car has, so often spoken about, vibration at 2000rpm in gears 4-6 (manual). But I have come to the conclusion this may be a characteristic of the car, I tried swapping the wheels around which made absolutely no difference and checking the prop shaft which appears fine although I haven't removed it. I'm stumped to find the cause.



From a towing perspective I'm impressed, was unhappy the previous Auto's I towed with so I though I would try a manual Antara. The car is comfortable and tows well, with good MPG 27 on motorways.



Richy

[victor]

Hi Richy and welcome aboard.

[Dulac]

Welcome to the forum Richy. I get vibration at 2000rpm and always change down, which clears it. It seems to run best at about 2500rpm and I have found 6th to be a waste of time unless you are running down a long hill. 6th seems to use more fuel even when running on the flat and for towing - forget it. After 37 years of towing the Antara is the best towcar I have had.

[bigjohnsparky]

Hi richy
Welcome to antara owners chat

[Richy]

Thanks guys for the kind welcome, and Dulac for the advise. I kept looking for a fault with the 2000rpm vibration at least now I'm happy to accept it. Thanks All

[Dulac]

Richy,
Was the tow bar already installed or did you have it fitted? I ask because some people have found that certain wiring installations with the tow bar do not include a power supply for the caravan fridge, or battery charging, and alterations are necessary to achieve this. Might be worth a check.

Also, consider the spare wheel situation on the Antara - particularly for towing. There has been a lot of discussion and advice on this and a few of us can probably recall the details!

[Richy]

Hi Dulac
Yes the car was already fitted with a towbar although was wired with the old 12N & 12S plugs. So I have tested the circuits, which all work, and now combined these into a new style 13 pin plug. I pulled back the sleeving on the two cables and taped the cores into one so it would fit into a single plug. The towbar ball was quite badly corroded so I'm assuming the electrics were fitted when the car was new in 2012/2013. I replaced the ball for a new one as I have an anti snake ball coupling. My only issue is that the car has been wired with, what would appear to be a, universal wiring kit which is connected inside the boot. They haven't used the bespoke wiring plug at the rear of the car and as a consequence I get no indication, visual or audio, that the indicators are working which is not ideal as I thought some kind of indicator feedback was a legal requirement, please confirm if anyone knows ? I understand that if the proper connection is used you get feedback on the dash, the problem is I don't know the wiring configuration on the car otherwise I could adapt the towbar wiring to suit.

I managed to obtain a spare wheel recently from an auction site and removed the centre infill under the boot floor. I bought a little scissor jack for £15 from a local accessory shop which is not ideal, the proper car one would be more suitable. The space under the boot floor really suits my needs as my van is stored in storage and I like to have everything packed in the car so I can just hookup and go. I also have fitted a solid shelf in the boot at the bottom of the window level so the dog can be above with all the boxed storage below. The self levelling suspension is really useful as the car sits at normal ish height when loaded, although their is only my wife, me and the dog.

On the vibration issue, I became convinced this was a problem with the propshaft so jacked up one of the wheels and had a look, I can feel no play in the UJ's and after removing the centre bearing this feels fine with no dryness or play. So I'm at a loss to know what is causing the vibration at 2000rpm in 4-6 gears, which appears to be torque related. I will try to get a picture of the car and caravan and link it into this post.

regards
rwilso30

[Dulac]

A jack and tools are only supplied when a spare wheel is supplied with the vehicle. Because I made my own arrangements for a full-size spare I used a scissor jack that was lying around in my garage (I think from either a Ford or Triumph) but it fitted the jacking point OK and was of adequate capacity to lift the vehicle without difficulty.

If you have been running an automatic for a while you might have to get used to changing gear more often! On mine the vibration occurs at precisely 2000rpm in 4th or 5th and as soon as you move off of that point it stops. It doesn't help that I have got all sorts of gear rattling around under my home-made boot floor (all "just in case" of course).

I don't touch vehicle electrics myself and had the tow bar installation carried out by a professional firm with a good reputation. Everything works well and as soon as the 'van is connected the light on the instrument panel illuminates to show that all is OK. I am not aware of any separate warning for indicators, etc; the repeater works at the normal speed in the usual way, but always visually check the lights before setting off. I also have TyrePal sensors on the 'van, with a separate monitor in the vehicle, to supplement the Antara's TPMS.

If you have the owner's manual there is some useful information in that regarding tyres and towing, etc. and you might discover some features you never knew you had!

[Richy]

Hi Dulac

The light on your dashboard does it come on continuously while the caravan is connected or does it just operate when the indicators work.

[Dulac]

Continuously.

[Richy]

Ok Thanks Dulak.

I need to have a think, when i get time ill have a go at tracking out the car cabling, shouldnt be to difficult their is only 11 cables.