Dual Mass Flywheel?

[thebassman]

Hi guys

I'm after a bit of advice.

My mondeo 2.0 tdci 2005 has been making some weird noises when slowing down through the gears. It makes a sort of rubbing/ squeaking noise when you take your foot off the clutch when slowing down through the gears.

Also today the car decided not to start.

There is a loud high pitched whirring noise coming from the starter motor when you turn the key. It is not engaging the engine.

My first thought after a bit of googling was the clutch/dmf/starter motor problem.

When I called ford, they insisted my car does not have a dmf, but has a smf, is this right?

I presume ford know what they are talking about.

I can just change the starter motor, but wonder if there is an underlying cause elsewhere.

Thanks

Thebassman

[ppeter7]

The best thing is to remove starter motor and see if any metal fileings are in starter motor as its also a tell tell sign flywheel clutch on way out

[thebassman]

The best thing is to remove starter motor and see if any metal fileings are in starter motor as its also a tell tell sign flywheel clutch on way out

Thanks, that's a good idea.

[Christianiani]

Hi bassman, Can you give me your Reg number and I'll see what you've got. I've got a 2004 and mine was definitely a DMF, because it's now an SMF conversion kit!!

Let me know mate,

Chris

[thebassman]

Thanks Chris

just sent you a pm with my reg details.

cheers

thebassman

[Christianiani]

Hi Martin. Answered your PM mate!!

Cheers,

Chris

[thebassman]

Hi Chris

Thanks for your reply, that's much appreciated.

I am based in St neots/ Cambs, but unfortunately I haven't got a decent local mechanic, and I'm not really up to doing this work myself.

I will have to have a look around and try and find somewhere good.

Just for a laugh, I phoned my local Ford main dealer last night. They quoted me approx. £2k.

That was for a new clutch kit/ DMF/ bolts/ starter motor, based on 6.6 hours labour @ £102 per hour.

It's annoying as the car has just been serviced/ MOT'd/ new front discs & pads/ new rear pads/ new hand brake cables/ new exhaust down pipe and 2 new front tyres. Otherwise I may have just cut my losses.

oh yeah, it also needs the Aux drive belt/ pulley/ tensioner repair too.

It is gutting as the car is great nick cosmetically.

cheers

thebassman

[Christianiani]

Hi Martin, that's uncanny!! I think our cars must have been separated at birth, coz we also did the aux belt and tensioner, it was very noisey, and then we had a knocking over speed bumps, which turned out to be most of the exhaust system!! The only saving grace is that we got it off eBay for under a grand so we are still on the right side of the money!! If we'd paid 2 - 2.5K for it, which you see them going for, we would have been gutted!! £102.00 an hour though is pretty scary!! Wish I could sort something out for you, like a cheap garage or mechanic in the area but not any help in that department!

I feel your pain mate!!

Have a good day!

[jeebowhite]

call around local mobile mechanics, they often have much cheaper labour rates as they dont have overheads of a shop to maintain.

[thebassman]

Hi Chris

Thanks, I have had the car for about 5 years, but paid £6.5k for it, I guess it doesn't really owe me too much now though.

It has been very reliable up until now, and has cover 115k miles.

Jeebowhite: thanks, I will call around a few places, but I will try and take the starter off tonight for further investigation.

It looks a bit tricky on the access though.

Does anyone know of any good tips or guides?

cheers

thebassman

[FOCA]

All mk3 Mondeo (2000-2007) diesels (2.0/2.2) sold in the UK Had DMFs fitted as standard

There was a model that had an SMF as standard, but it was not sold in the UK by Ford (Ford fitted an SMF to a mk3, though, so no reason why you should'nt)

The DMF is a common fault, the DMF breaks up over time and the swarf can choke up the starter motor, if you buy/fit a new starter motor it will also get choked up again - the DMF will need changed

You can get a SMF kit from about £250-£400, best to change the flywheel, clutch and CSC at the same time, along with a new starter motor , labout to do the job could be £400 (independant garage/ mechanic) so you are talking about £500-£800 all in (prices for SMFs/ parts have come down labour has gone up and varies, area to area)

The aux belt is another common fault on these engines, so not "uncanny" that you have more than one car with this fault, there are probably 100s, if not 1000s of mk3s driving around with rattly aux belts)

The belt is not that important because if it snaps, the alternator will stop charging the battery and the AC will stop working, but it is unlikely to damage the engine, and it can be run to get you home/ to the garage as long as you are careful with battery/ electrical power, the rattling is anoying though, and the belt/ tensioner will eventually need replaced as it deteriorates

You kit can be bought for about £250, you can get a gates kit of aux belt/ idler pulley/ tensioner and best to replace the crank pulley at the same time with a genuine Ford one (if you dont replace the crank pully the other time/ money spent could be useless, and some cheap pattern pulleys break up quicly/ there is a dampner built into this pulley) - the belt is a poor design with a badly designed tensioner and an over- long belt, the x-type jag (uses the same engine/ basically the same car) has a better design and it is possible to modify/ fit jag parts (the alternator needs to be modified so its a bit of a faff) - typically belts only last 25k before needing done again

(Mondeo mk3/ tuning expert)