Towing a Suzuki celerio

Cujimi

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Hi I’m towing a Suzuki celerio on an A Frame. I’ve put the key in and turned it so that the steering wheel lock doesn’t come on. Unfortunately I’ve just noticed the rer lights were on and they’ve drained the battery. Is there something else I should do I checked all the lights and made sure they were off. I used to tow à Corsa and did for years but unfortunately it became too old and had to scrap it. Any advice would be appreciated.
 
You don't have to drive with the ignition on, turn the ignition on and make sure the steering lock is off then turn the ignition off but don't remove the key, the steering lock will not activate until you remove the key
 
Hi I tow a 2019 celerio with a Taf overrun braking system and all works fine. Just towed 300 miles no problem.
normally 1st position on key (use a key without transponder. About £15 from timpsons ) radio off, dash cam unplugged and car manually locked from the outside.

First question is it mechanical or electrically braked? And who converted the car?

if electrically braked it’s not getting the permanent + & - feed from your van. Normally pins on plug for caravan (battery charging or running fridge on 12 volt). The braking unit could be flattening the car battery. (this has happened to a couple of friends)

Are the car light’s normally when unplugged from van?

are you using an adapter to go from euro to uk towing plugs?

When my van side lights are on, both the front and back car side lights are on?
 
Dee-Gee said:
Hi I tow a 2019 celerio with a Taf overrun braking system and all works fine. Just towed 300 miles no problem.
normally 1st position on key (use a key without transponder. About £15 from timpsons ) radio off, dash cam unplugged and car manually locked from the outside.

First question is it mechanical or electrically braked? And who converted the car?

if electrically braked it’s not getting the permanent + & - feed from your van. Normally pins on plug for caravan (battery charging or running fridge on 12 volt). The braking unit could be flattening the car battery. (this has happened to a couple of friends)

Are the car light’s normally when unplugged from van?

are you using an adapter to go from euro to uk towing plugs?

When my van side lights are on, both the front and back car side lights are on?
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Hi thanks for your reply it’s mechanically braked Armitages did conversion. Car lights are normal when unplugged from van Not using an adapter. We used to tow a corsa on same system with no problem. I noticed when we stopped at services the van was switched off and key out but the car back lights were still on. Definitely something to do with braking as our front disks and pads needed replacing when we got here. So looks like brakes were binding but the brake lights somehow were drying car battery rather than getting power from van.
 
When I tow my car over any distance I disconnect the battery as the lights all work off towing socket. To make things easier I bought a battery isolator switch off ebay ( not expensive ) which you can turn with your hand ,no need for spanners and less risk of damaging battery terminal
 
When I tow my Peugeot 107, I use an ignition key, bought from Timpsons, which has no starting chip. The key will unlock the steering but will not start the engine.
When I connect up, the last thing I do is disconnect the engine battery, so the car uses only power from the motorhome. A quick check that handbrake/steering lock are off, out of gear, and lights/indicators all working fine, and we are off.
 
Not really, I leave the key in the ignition and have peace of mind that it’s not going to get nicked. Primarily it’s just a way of releasing the steering lock, on the first (radio) position.
I think our systems must be very similar, although I use a quick release connector.
 
Cujimi said:
I noticed when we stopped at services the van was switched off and key out but the car back lights were still on. Definitely something to do with braking as our front disks and pads needed replacing when we got here. So looks like brakes were binding but the brake lights somehow were drying car battery rather than getting power from van.
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I put a couple of bungy cords around my brake pedal and the seat base, it eliminates any problems with the cable binding, I was in France one year and I saw smoke from the Panda that I was towing, when I stopped the discs were glowing cherry red, that's when I started using bungy cords
 
The first notch on my ignition does not bring the brake lights on, I only wonder if the full ignition was on and the battery was drained by the electric power steering? I do use a strong bungee from the seat base to the brake peddle. Also on Taf a frame they recommend 1/2“ play on the brake cable, (adjustment on cable from a frame to front of car) I did read some years ago about a brake cable that was routed too sharp not allowing it to return properly.
 
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