Hi everyone, 

first time positng in here as I havent had my focus long. I have a Focus 2006 Sport CDTi 1.8 5 Speed and its my first car. I had it servced and MOT'd in April and have noticed a tapping at the front of the car when the clutch is raised after changing from first to neutral. I wondered if anyone had any advice on this please?

On 5/13/2020 at 1:33 PM, ricgl83 said:

Hi everyone, 

first time positng in here as I havent had my focus long. I have a Focus 2006 Sport CDTi 1.8 5 Speed and its my first car. I had it servced and MOT'd in April and have noticed a tapping at the front of the car when the clutch is raised after changing from first to neutral. I wondered if anyone had any advice on this please?

Does the tapping stop once the car is in gear?  If so, it's probably the DMF rattling, mines been rattling for the last 2.5 years and it's still going strong (famous last words!).

Hi 1979Damian, thanks for replying, apologies for the delay. Correct, as soon as I put it in first the rattling stops and there is no issue with driving the car. 

My old mark 2 chirps in that state but still goes but it's petrol and not diesel when it starts to slip that's when it's clutch time. 

Think I may start looking for a new car as the DMF is probably more expensive than the car haha

On 5/26/2020 at 10:54 AM, ricgl83 said:

Think I may start looking for a new car as the DMF is probably more expensive than the car haha

Due to age of your car, personally I'd just drive it until it s itself.

 

My DMF has been rattling for the last 3 years and I'm not on 180K miles and it hasn't got any worse.  Why spend money (buying another car) when you don't "need" to yet, after all you can buy a car with full Ford service history but you don't know how the car has been driven.  It could have a knackered engine and clutch from being thrashed from cold and the previous owner going full on "Fast and the furious" at every other set of traffic lights.

 

Sometimes, better the devil you know.

DMFs can fail spectacularly and leave you stranded tbf, it's not something I'd want to leave if definitely confirmed as that!

Have also seen them take out gearboxes as well!  Don't even have to be abusing them, one was just idling at traffic lights! 😮 

I had one fail without warning on a Mondeo that not only destroyed the clutch but the bell housing and gearbox input shaft. Seems a bit reckless to ignore any warning signs.

Thanks for the replies, I'd love to get it fixed but I've read that it can be around £500-600 for the part plus labour, so unsure on it to be honest

On 5/31/2020 at 9:41 AM, Comares2001 said:

I had one fail without warning on a Mondeo that not only destroyed the clutch but the bell housing and gearbox input shaft. Seems a bit reckless to ignore any warning signs.

So if there's a tapping when using the pedal that can barely be felt (as per the Op's scenario) and the car otherwise drives fine, you'd drop £800 on a new DMF and clutch?  Let alone spending £800 on a car that's only worth £500-£600 on a good day.  

Of course not, I would investigate further as may just be a noisy release bearing . It was you that said it was your DMF that was at fault.