I've been towing a 1450 lb. pop up trailer, which does not have brake assist, so the brakes on my minivan are braking both the the van and the trailer. When driving the down mountain passes, I've noticed the brakes seem to lose some function (i.e., fade) after I've been braking for a while, and there is a modest shudder sound coming from the brakes. When towing on flat surfaces, however, the brakes work great and there no noise or shudder.

The manual says not to use the engine as a brake while towing, so I haven't been using the engine's downshift capability to its full extent. For example, when going down a long 5-7 degree mountain side, I keep the transmission in 5th gear, which doesn't provide enough resistance to keep the van from increasing speed on the downhill. I have to use the brakes to keep speed under control.

I'm about to change brake pads, and I'm wondering if there's potential to upgrade the brake pads or rotors to a heavier duty set, so that I have more prolonged braking power. Anybody have any ideas?

 

You should go with slotted and drilled rotors so that they can release all the extra heat. They will wear out QUICKER but they will prevent you from losing brakes on a steep grade. Bosch Quiet Cast break pads are cheap on Amazon and have excellent performance.

If you bought wheels with a larger hole you could go with a bigger rotor set but that's expensive.

Couldn't you add brakes to the trailer? Perhaps talk to you local UHaul, they install hitches (for way more money that is reasonable) but you can at least get an idea if it's possible or what it could cost.

 

Thanks for the reply. I think I'll try the drilled and slotted rotors this time. That seems like the cheapest option to start with.

 

Also know that slotted and disk or any brakes that are considered performance will generate dust and make your wheels dirty, and they will make more noise (not screeching, if you lube the shims and slide bolts you will not have screeching) when you brake. That's the sacrifice you make for sporty brakes. Just like performance tires make more road noise as grip increases, performance brakes will stop you sooner but at the cost of comfort. I'll see if I can find a video on it.

 

 

What year is your van? The later years came with heavier duty brakes, if your front brake calipers have 2 pistons, you have the heavy duty brakes. I believe the HD brakes started showing up in the 2012 model, they became standard at some point after that.

Others have upgraded older vans to the HD brakes, it requires replacing front and rear rotors, dust shields, calipers, and caliper brackets, the master cylinder is also different for the HD brakes but many have upgraded without changing it. You also need to have 17" wheels to clear HD brakes.

 

I have a question that is off topic but also relevant to towing; did you put a secondary transmission fluid cooler on this van? I've been considering installing one because I have a cold air intake I've built and I've just moved to a city with more stoplights than stars in the sky. My transmission has been getting to 180F when it usually runs at 150F when I lived out in the country or even now when I'm doing 70mph up a long steep grade on the highway. I rarely tow and I change my fluid every 35,000 miles regardless of need but I really don't like getting my transmission that hot or driving too slow. I have haulassophilia, the love of hauling ***.

 

I've had some problems towing. Like I said, I've been towing a 1450 pound trailer through mountain passes. The transmission failed at about 40,000 miles, requiring a $4000 fix at the dealer. The mounting pins on the transmission case broke, so they had to put in a new case. Since then, I've been taking it extra careful, trying not to stress the engine. I've been going up the mountain passes in 4th gear, keeping the rpms above 2500 using the shift limiter. That means I'm only going about 45 mph, but I don't mind the cars blowing by me. The temperature needle doesn't budge when I do this. I've put on about 20,000 miles after the transmission fix with no problems.

I've been under the impression that my 2015 Grand Caravan AVP has the oil cooler you inquired about, but I'm not entirely sure. There is a lack of information on this. I saw a comment in a website saying the oil cooler became standard around 2012 or so, but I don't see any kind of separate radiator when I look around the engine. It's frustrating that this information is not in the manual.

I also found out the hard way that my 2014 Caravan has the dual piston front brakes. Apparently, many parts websites think the 2014 Caravan has a single piston front brake, because that's what they recommend and send you. Because of that issue, I accidentally ordered expensive single piston brake pads that I cannot use (and unfortunately cannot return).

 

As far as I know every automatic transmission at least one that I've had since 1989 have had their own radiator or a portion of the water radiator ( separated internally). If you were to look at the front of the vehicle or look down inside the engine bay it looks like one radiator but it's usually two sitting one behind the other so when the fan runs to cool the engine it's also cooling the transmission fluid.

in 2018 the towing package did not include an additional third radiator. You can install a transmission cooler which is nothing more than just another small radiator and like a quart more of fluid to spread the thermal mass with.

Here is an install video to give you an idea of what adding a second radiator to your transmission looks like. As you can see it's a very simple job in a body shop would probably not charge you much to do the task. Unless you're very handy I wouldn't try to do it myself because the consequences of a mistake is another $4,000 transmission.

 

Yes, that fits with my understanding. I believe my 2014 Caravan has a portion of the radiator dedicated to the transmission, but there is an aftermarket solution to add a third radiator.

I'm towing only 1450 lbs., which is well under the tow rating of 3500 lbs., so I'm trying to get by without the additional transmission cooler. I'm keeping speed way down on mountain climbs, so that should help as well.

Getting back to the brakes, I'm going to replace my brake pads and see if that solves the fading problem on the downside of mountain passes. My current pads are worn and thin, and that might be limiting heat dispersion and causing the fading. If the new pads don't solve the problem, I will then try drilled and slotted rotors.