Thor Forums

[FW28z]

I know that the Ford documentation says to disconnect the battery. I am sure they do that because of the battery's risk of running down.

The only issue I could see is if you had to keep the key in the RUN position - in older cars, that could burn out part of the ignition system. But I am guessing you keep the engine in the ACC position, which should not mess with the ignition.

I sold my wonderful Nissan Maxima as it had a CVT that could not be dinghy towed and bought a 2014 Taurus as it could be towed.

Funny thing though. For my Taurus, you are supposed to keep the ignition in the ACC position when towing, and there is no requirement to disconnect the battery. Don't you love it when there is no consistency by a manufacturer.

At any rate, after doing some research, the couple of other people I found towing the Taurus recommended to turn the ignition switch so that it goes just past the ACC position, and does not go into the OFF position. It is between positions. In their explanation, it keeps the battery from running down.

Now I suppose that hitting a pothole with the car could "jiggle" the ignition switch into either the OFF or ACC position, so that might be a risk. But with at least the Ford vehicles, there is no steering wheel lock in the OFF position, so you are safe there.

Whether that might work for the Focus or not, who knows? Do you have a clamp DC ammeter? You could monitor the current drain if you were a bit prone to experimentation. But I do realize that on a new car, you will want to limit such experiments. At least I would want to limit what I did.

I have to imagine though that there are a lot more people towing a Focus than a Taurus, so perhaps you just need to monitor the internet until you find what others did to improve things.

Even though we bought the Taurus to tow, my mom bought a Focus soon after (I think my buying a new car prompted her to buy one too). So, I bought her old 2002 Pontiac Grand Am, which has a Saturn transmission, and is towable.

As it turned out, I should have kept the Maxima and bought the Grand Am. But that is how things turn out I suppose.

So rather than towing the Taurus, I am towing the Grand Am as it is 1,000lbs lighter and since it is fully depreciated so I am not as hesitant to try different things, drill holes in the frame for the baseplate, etc.

According to GM, when recreational towing, I am supposed to remove three fuses, as I need to keep the ignition in ACC when towing - as on that car, the steering wheel will lock.

Or more precisely, you cannot cannot go from ACC to OFF with the transmission not in Park. And as long as the transmission is not in Park, the steering wheel is not locked.

But even with the three fuses (that GM specifies) is pulled, the car still has power - as the brake lights still work, as well as the stereo. The three fuses are for the windshield wipers (strange), as well as two of them marked PCM something or other (most likely for the engine computer).

At any rate, when I replace the fuses after towing and start the car, about 50% of the time, with the engine running, the engine fan starts and remains running. The fan won't shut off until I turn the ignition off, then restart. At that point - the fan runs normally.

So there is a lot of strange, voodoo techniques to towing, I think.