Right then boys and girls, at the ripe old age of 48, I’ve been given the privilege of being the driver of brand spanking new DAF CF and it being the very 1st auto I’ve ever driven.
So here’s my question.
I’ve got a 12 speed eco / 12 speed non eco / 12 speed manual button on the stork.
When climbing a hill the auto eco doesn’t like to change down until you are at about 30mph, now if I press the button to non eco the gears change down but are still not good at keeping the speed up. Now if I change to Manual and knock them down myself then obviously it keeps my speed relatively high.
Am I doing right by changing through these options whilst driving or am I ducking the gearbox. HELP
lizard:
Right then boys and girls, at the ripe old age of 48, I’ve been given the privilege of being the driver of brand spanking new DAF CF and it being the very 1st auto I’ve ever driven.
So here’s my question.
I’ve got a 12 speed eco / 12 speed non eco / 12 speed manual button on the stork.
When climbing a hill the auto eco doesn’t like to change down until you are at about 30mph, now if I press the button to non eco the gears change down but are still not good at keeping the speed up. Now if I change to Manual and knock them down myself then obviously it keeps my speed relatively high.
Am I doing right by changing through these options whilst driving or am I ducking the gearbox. HELP
Sent using smoke signals
Pressing the button on the right hand stalk putting it into non eco alters the gear change pattern. It doesn’t give any more torque. If you put it into manual, this allows you to change down when you wish to keep the revs up and also the speed but this can come with a fuel penalty.
lizard:
Right then boys and girls, at the ripe old age of 48, I’ve been given the privilege of being the driver of brand spanking new DAF CF and it being the very 1st auto I’ve ever driven.
So here’s my question.
I’ve got a 12 speed eco / 12 speed non eco / 12 speed manual button on the stork.
When climbing a hill the auto eco doesn’t like to change down until you are at about 30mph, now if I press the button to non eco the gears change down but are still not good at keeping the speed up. Now if I change to Manual and knock them down myself then obviously it keeps my speed relatively high.
Am I doing right by changing through these options whilst driving or am I ducking the gearbox. HELP
Sent using smoke signals
Pressing the button on the right hand stalk putting it into non eco alters the gear change pattern. It doesn’t give any more torque. If you put it into manual, this allows you to change down when you wish to keep the revs up and also the speed but this can come with a fuel penalty.
Thanks for this. I was hoping i wasnt doing anything wrong by shifting between the alternatives whilst moving.
I don’t think driving up a hill fully freighted at 30mph in 12th auto eco is going to be much different to driving at 45mph in manual 9th.
Well I’m hoping not anyway lol
You are doing nothing wrong, the alternative gear modes wouldn’t be there otherwise.
However on Daf’s you will find the box defaults back to eco after a short period from whichever of the two alternatives you select, this is apparently able to be reset at the dealer so what mode you select stays, whether your boss will sanction that is another thing entirely.
If you put instant fuel readout on the dash and look see what the consumption is under power on any given hill, you’ll find hill climbing full power in 12th might be 3.9mpg, 11th summat like 3.1, 10th 2.6ish and 9th might well be around the 2.2mpg mark, so yes there will be difference between the gears.
Did the boss try to sell this as an amazing new truck and a privillage for you to drive? If so, tell your boss he / she also deserves a new motor of equal standing…Robin Reliant would be suitable.
With the gearbox switch, its still computer controlled so won’t fox the machinery, but dont expect anything amazing. In my experience it wont let you do anything daft and sometimes kickdown on the heavy pedal will do the same, if it thinks your worthy.
Ultimately, all changing down will do is move the rev counter and make more noise for exactly the same speed. Its when the tractors cut you up that you know your boss is a skinflint.
Btw, ask of you can have a 13 plate, thats the last of the semi decent ones.
trevHCS:
Did the boss try to sell this as an amazing new truck and a privillage for you to drive? If so, tell your boss he / she also deserves a new motor of equal standing…Robin Reliant would be suitable.
With the gearbox switch, its still computer controlled so won’t fox the machinery, but dont expect anything amazing. In my experience it wont let you do anything daft and sometimes kickdown on the heavy pedal will do the same, if it thinks your worthy.
Ultimately, all changing down will do is move the rev counter and make more noise for exactly the same speed. Its when the tractors cut you up that you know your boss is a skinflint.
Btw, ask of you can have a 13 plate, thats the last of the semi decent ones.
Hi. There was no selling, it was just my turn to get a new 1. Just handed the keys back to my last manual CF which was a 14 plate. The company is moving over to automatics after almost 40 years of manuals.
I think this is the 2nd or 3rd batch of autos that he’s now got and something like another 50 odd to replace. I can’t grumble I’m on me 5th motor with them and there’s no grumbling of who gets what as we only run CF on the artics except for 1 XF and all the Rigids are LF’s. So there’s no brand chasing here, you get exactly the same as everyone else.
But I suppose it’s better than driving something that’s all singing and dancing with a crap wage.
Juddian:
You are doing nothing wrong, the alternative gear modes wouldn’t be there otherwise.
However on Daf’s you will find the box defaults back to eco after a short period from whichever of the two alternatives you select, this is apparently able to be reset at the dealer so what mode you select stays, whether your boss will sanction that is another thing entirely.
If you put instant fuel readout on the dash and look see what the consumption is under power on any given hill, you’ll find hill climbing full power in 12th might be 3.9mpg, 11th summat like 3.1, 10th 2.6ish and 9th might well be around the 2.2mpg mark, so yes there will be difference between the gears.
Enjoy
Thanks for the advice. I will look at the fuel figures tomorrow and see what they are like.
I always used to turn eco mode off when going up hills in the 18 plate ones I drive. Tried it one night just leaving the eco mode on and letting it do its thing and going from Howden to Lockerbie over the A66 and back it didn’t add more than a few minutes but it used 20 litres less diesel, roughly a saving of 10%, using 180 litres instead of 200 (we run almost full weight on the return journey).
chaversdad:
In Eco mode you lose 10% of the available torque in every gear except top
That is correct for the first generation Euro6 DAFS with Astronic. However the new ones with the Tracton Gearbox there is no torque reduction, it changes the gearchange pattern when taken out of Eco mode.
Some people say the same about mercs and others volvos etc etc.
Me personally like the dafs especially the seats as they are great for my back unlike scanias that rip my spine to bits.
But it’s each to there own.
What’s good for 1 is useless to the other as they say.
chaversdad:
In Eco mode you lose 10% of the available torque in every gear except top
That is correct for the first generation Euro6 DAFS with Astronic. However the new ones with the Tracton Gearbox there is no torque reduction, it changes the gearchange pattern when taken out of Eco mode.
