Hi guys,

My first post here!!😊 

I purchased the car around 2.5 years ago and almost immediately, while I was working away the wife said there was an issue with clutch. From memory it was juddering but I honestly can't remember, anyway, the clutch and Dmf were changed out at my local garage, at this time the car had completed about 28k miles.

The car is now on 54k miles and when pulling away it occasionally has a whoop. I don't have hill start assist but it does sound like the brakes are stuck on, today to prove it wasn't the brakes, I put the hand brake on tight and hard on brakes with right foot and whilst in first, lifted clutch to stall point and beyond once or twice. Low and behold, there she is, "Whoop" - great!

I guess this is a sure sign of my need for another clutch kit and dmf? Is it one or the other? I would just change both anyway but is there a way of knowing?

I think this is a known issue with this car / engine?

I've never done much on a car before, brake pads and oil change has been my limit but I'm going to have some time off in January and I would find a sense of achievement if I were to complete it myself. Is there an idiots guide I should read first of should I just stay well clear?

It is a common issue but it's not actually a fault as such, the clutch will still work fine, it's just an annoying noise.  No need to replace it until it's slips or drags.

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

 

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

It is a common issue but it's not actually a fault as such, the clutch will still work fine, it's just an annoying noise.  No need to replace it until it's slips or drags.

Thanks, I was trawling the Internet now and found a youtube video on a mk3 whooping ford focus and someone commented this:

"I had the same sound. My story: I bought the car at 5years old (12 plate) and with 49k miles on the clock. This exact same sound came up about 5 times altogether in the first few weeks after purchase and never again. Then about 1,5 years and over 10k miles later my transmission and flywheel were gone. The car started to give noise when I released the clutch in neutral and in a matter of 3 days it got so bad I had to stop the car. Then only trip afterwards was to the mechanic. The flywheel was in really bad shape but the sound I had came from the transmission bearing which were gone due to the faulty flywheel. I suspected clutch back then but as there were no symptoms I had to wait until something goes so we can fix it. Unfortunately for me it was too late, I killed the bearings in the transmission too and chipped the 6th gear, doubling the fixing costs 😞 So if you hear this you are better off going for a full clutch kit. Also if you want to go for sure ask the mechanic to lift the car before the fix, put it in gear and have a listen. My mechanic just randomly happened to do that check, that's how it turned out that the gearbox was gone too. He admitted if he didn't have to move my car around in the shop he never did that and he would have replaced the new clutch without checking the gearbox which could have caused even more expenses for me. I know your next question is how much.... The full clutch kit is 175 off ebay, but I bought it from CESUK for 199, brand is LUK which supposed to be the oem for ford. The dual mass flywheel did cost 179.5 from same shop and LUK too. The gearbox bearing kit and 6th gear was a bit over 340 off ebay... plus labour..."

 

 

 

As TomsFocus said it’s quite a common issue on these diesels, due to a resonance on the clutch. Normally gets worse once it heats up. A new clutch should sort it, but i don’t think leaving it would be detrimental to your gearbox. 
If it’s a B6 gearbox then the bearings are more than capable of f-ing up all by themselves. 

6 hours ago, kajeeves said:

As TomsFocus said it’s quite a common issue on these diesels, due to a resonance on the clutch. Normally gets worse once it heats up. A new clutch should sort it, but i don’t think leaving it would be detrimental to your gearbox. 
If it’s a B6 gearbox then the bearings are more than capable of f-ing up all by themselves. 

How long does a B6 gear box usually last? 

2 hours ago, Ortiz said:

How long does a B6 gear box usually last? 

It really depends if you get a good one or not. If you’ve got to 54,000 miles without any problems you’ll probably be ok. 

Could I ask another question... 

Bearing in mind I had a new clutch, DMF and I believe I had a new slave cylinder at that time, this was around 25k ago. Now I have this clutch whoop I've decided to buy a LUK clutch and just keep it in the boot along with a new DMF also ready for when she goes bang. Do you think I would need another slave cylinder also? 

 

I think I remember my mechanic saying last time that the either the DMF or the slave cylinder was damaged from excess heat. 

Hope the above makes sense. 

 

Thanks 

4 hours ago, Ortiz said:

Could I ask another question... 

Bearing in mind I had a new clutch, DMF and I believe I had a new slave cylinder at that time, this was around 25k ago. Now I have this clutch whoop I've decided to buy a LUK clutch and just keep it in the boot along with a new DMF also ready for when she goes bang. Do you think I would need another slave cylinder also? 

 

I think I remember my mechanic saying last time that the either the DMF or the slave cylinder was damaged from excess heat. 

Hope the above makes sense. 

 

Thanks 

It's the DMF that gets damaged by the heat of a slipping clutch, you shouldn't need to change the DMF if you catch it early enough.  But it's always worth doing the slave while the gearbox is out, it's such a cheap part but costs so much in labour on it's own if it fails shortly after the clutch has been replaced.