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2.5 Year Old Clutch/flywheel Gone One?


ydrol
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Just bought a 2nd hand 2004/53 Mondeo TDCi 130 Ghia X with 118K on the clock.

Noticed the biting point on the clutch was low so got I good discount (so I thought!) anticipating clutch troubles.

I figured it will need likely a new clutch soon, so gave it some revs on 3rd gear up hill,

everything seemed responsive , but then the gears started sticking (randomly).

Drove it in 2nd all the way to my local mechanic. They called someone else who suggested its

likely a spring in the flywheel.

Didn't fully reaslise cost of clutch/flywheels on these TDCi engines!!

Previous owner seems genuinely surprised as they had Mr Clutch receipts from September 2010

where everything was done - Clutch, Flywheel and Cylinder for £807

Now I'm likely faced with a repair bill of the same? Will find out tomorrow.

Any thoughts, are these flywheels that unreliable, that they can only last 2.5 years?

The car was likely used for a lot of day time driving around London before.

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The flywheel is a dual mass flywheel or DMF

It is supposed to last 50 - 100K , but if used for towing, driven in certain ways or around town it can wear out faster (2.5 years around london seems about right)

Labouring at low revs, in a high gear, especially uphill, a heavy load or towing "boy racer" starts/ acceleration "finishes :lol: " the DMF or words to that effect

Driving around with a foot resting on the clutch pedal ("riding" the clutch) will wear out the cluch prematurely

Keeping the clutch pedal pressed on the floor at every junction/ traffic light etc (instead of putting the car in neutral) will wear out the CSC/ thrust bearing - had a mate that did this - he couldent undestand why he went through 3 clutches in a year - it was a Fiat and he was a takeaway delivery driver though

Its a big job to change the clutch on a mk3 Mondeo, if the CSC (concentric slave cylinder), DMF or cluch goes the subframe has to be dropped and the g-box split, a garage/ mechanic will charge about £400 to do this (you may get it done cheaper - say £250), this is for the labor only

Because its such a big, expensive job, its recon'd the best thing to do is replace the DMF, 2 parts of the clutch and CSC altogether with new ones, these are about £400 - £500 (6 speed is more expensive than 5-speed)

There are different makes of DMF, LUK are the OEM ones (same as Ford, apparently) but Sachs make a planetery DMF which is supposed to be better/ stronger

Some people fit solid flywheels (single mass flywheel/ SMFs) , in place of the DMF,

There is some differences of opinion on these, they have been blamed for damaging cranks/ clutches etc, but some people "swear by them"/ recommend them

I fitted a SMF, 2 years ago, it works well i reccomend you get one with a "sprung plate" to give a bit of "give" in the transmission

Mine was a solid flywheel, carbon fiber/ kevlar clutch, heavy-duty uprated back plate (33% firmer clamping force) with sprung plate/ cush drive i got a genuine Ford CSC fitted - i felt this was the best setup i could fit at the time - i have a seriously "souped up" car and drive hard, i dont drive round london or do a high milage though

the SMF not for everyone, its more "direct" in feel and less "refined"

So if you go for a SMF fit a matched clutch with sprung plate, go for Genuine Ford/ LUK or Sachs for a DMF(watch out for cheap chineese copies, sometimes unbranded), best to fit a genuine Ford (or equivelant) CSC

You can shop around for the best price for labour, and the best price for parts, but if you get them in different places 1 may blame the other if there is a problem

The DMF/ cutch/ CSC is one or the worst/ most expensive things to go wrong with a Mondeo mk3 diesel, (along with the TDCI injectors), the cheapest way of "fixing" these things is to sell the car at the 1st sign of these things giving trouble, before they get worse/ more obvious.

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Thanks for the very useful info - Bought the car yesterday , so might have a bit of trouble selling it on so quickly! It was meant to be a 'cheap' runaround - lol!

The previous Clutch/Flywheel/CSC was installed by Mr Clutch in sep 2010 at 86K

So the car has done about 32K miles in just under 2.5 years. I suspect mostly around town in the daytime.

I'll enquire about the Sachs flywheel. Yeah I prefer to get parts and labour in one place - been stung like that before with a BMW E36 gearbox.

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Quick update - Mechanic are leasing the work out to some who wants half money up front. (£750/2)

This seems a bit unprofessional to me and I'd rather take my chances with Mr Clutch (who quoted £680).

What do you guys think?

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Go for the cheaper quote as long as they're doing what you ask of them.

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