Hi,

My 2015 Fiesta ecoboost had a really heavy clutch which was very rough and vibrated a lot when releasing and moving off. I had the clutch done as it was painful to use in traffic and what not, and was generally uncomfortable to drive overall. The replacement was a 3 piece clutch kit.

I am 200 miles into my new clutch and it already feels like it’s gotten a bit heavier than when i first drove it out the garage. It is also quite temperamental, sometimes it glides off so smoothly, sometimes it still vibrates the car when using it. I haven’t noticed any pattern or what I do to cause this. Yes I do know there’s a bedding in period, and since I got it done it’s been driven very gently with no excessive heavy traffic and no hard acceleration etc. (and no holding the car on the clutch on hills).

Is the clutch of an ecoboost supposed to be slightly on the firmer side than usual? And is it expected for it to have some vibrations when moving off? Just seems strange as sometimes it is so smooth and other times it is not. The clutch was heavy since I bought the car so i’m not entirely sure what a perfect ecoboost clutch feels like.

TIA

In general, Ford clutches are heavier to operate than those of most other car manufacturers.

Over the years, I have driven quite a few different Ford models, as well as many cars from other manufacturers (both rental cars and company cars). In my experience, the clutches in cars from other brands are considerably lighter to operate than those in most Ford models.

In my opinion, clutch vibrations do not seem to be normal. However, the Fiesta MK7.5 1.0 EcoBoost is equipped with a solid flywheel and does not have a balance shaft. As a result, the natural vibrations of the three-cylinder engine are more noticeable than on the 1.0 EcoBoost versions fitted with a dual-mass flywheel (6-speed B6 transmission) or a balance shaft (torque-converter automatic transmission).


What was the condition of the flywheel? I have seen solid cast-iron 1.0 EcoBoost flywheels develop blue spots caused by overheating before. This leads to hard spots and uneven wear on the flywheel’s friction surface, which can contribute to clutch vibrations.

For this reason, it is recommended to skim/machine the flywheel when replacing the clutch. Since these solid flywheels are relatively inexpensive, replacing the flywheel at the same time as the clutch can also be considered.