Hi, I have a Focus ’08 diesel and my mechanic tells me a need a new dual mass flywheel. His garage only deals with a few suppliers which charge a lot of dosh for the part.

Any fellow STWers know of a decent supplier of the part? I have done a google search and price ranges from £250 to over £500. Costly part to replace, doh.

Cheers

Either get a genuine ford replacement or a Valeo solid flywheel conversion if available for your engine.
Buy cheap buy new engine applies here

a common (and annoying) issue with fords of this era, and some VW and volvos etc, they shouldnt have bothered – keep it simple!

as above – probably best with a genuine part IMO

Where you based?

Because it’s a MK2 Focus same as mine the DMF is expensive.

Try here

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/Ford/Focus/Mk2/Dual-Mass-Flywheel

As expensive as a new/replacement DMF is, I wouldn’t go down the SMF route as it will affect drivability.

Try Eurocarparts or similar. When I bought one last year they were just about as cheap as the ebay / internet. LUK and Sachs seemed to be the decent after markets brands.

I had this in an 07 and went the Ford OEM route. I looked at solid and came to the conclusion it might result in a knackered gearbox instead of a DMF. AIUI, the DMF acts as a massive cush drive and protects the gearbox from high engine torque pulses. Does that make sense?

Go OEM Sachs etc, eurocarparts recently bought LUK brand and their quality went down once being taken over by ECP. Parts are made from lower grade materials but packaged in upmarket boxes. Few had misfortune to find out with collapsed dmf after few K miles.

My clutch as just failed on my Nissan navara and general opinion is get rid of the dmf at the same time..more trouble than there worth..solid one being put in

popstar – Member
Go OEM Sachs etc, eurocarparts recently bought LUK brand and their quality went down once being taken over by ECP. Parts are made from lower grade materials but packaged in upmarket boxes. Few had misfortune to find out with collapsed dmf after few K miles.

Posted 19 minutes ago # Report-Post

Got any evidence of this? LUK is one of the main supplliers of oem clutches and flywheels to car manufacturers (the op’s Ford focus will probably have an luk clutch and flywheel in it) . Very much doubt eurocarparts now own LUK . I think there maybe other reasons for certain dmf failures but i’m not going to coment on that on a public forum as , untill it’s proven it’s just hearsay .

LUK is the make of choice on the Mondeo. Looking at about £600 all in.

The other thing to consider is that you might also have to replace the starter motor and the clutch too.. the fuel injectors on Fords also compensate for the DMF being out of synch so might need to re adjust which they will do them selves quite quickly… pain in the ass but worth it once it’s done, they are great motors… Oh and I’m pretty sure ECP don’t own LUK, Lucas they owned for about half a day before shutting down all their service centres.. 😯

Is it a case of not if but when with Ford TDCis? I’m thinking of buying an S-MAX 2.0 but you do hear of these letting go with monotonous regularity….

With Ford TDCi’s the Turbos let go if you don’t service the car.. well change the oil at the very least.

Here you could get decent quality or uprated dmf clutch kits
http://www.darksidedevelopments.co.uk/6-speed-transmission/

davosaurus , it’s not just Fords . All manufacturers have problems with dmf’s . Just replaced a Sprinter clutch and flywheel this morning .
The S-max will have the 2 litre peugeot engine in .

If on budget, go … http://www.buypartsby.co.uk/buy/FORD/__/34/transmission/luk-clutch-kits/luk-clutch-kits/

The dreaded DMF and clutch ( as they say do both) replacement…My Mazda 6 clutch died late last year. I almost s1ht a brick when The Garage quoted over £1500 😯 Had it done for a few hundred quid less but not impressed.

its not a foregone conclusion that they will fail, mine is on 152000 miles and its fine.
(03 plate mondeo 2.0 tdci 115bhp)
it seems to affect serial clutch droppers, rather than more mechanically sympathetic drivers, so ive heard anyway, it could be all crap and its just pure luck.
for the record, im mechanically sympathetic and my one is fine, so draw your own conclusions from that.

Solid flywheel conversion get rid of that dmf shit
Lets be honest its only there so your gran can drive at 5mph in top gear
Or if your a taxi driver
It gains you 2mpg only because you can hang onto the higher gear for a bit longer without judder
Pish just change down

Mine went at 205k so they can last longer than most cars! Swapped it out for a SMF and new clutch for £550. To be honest I hardly notice the difference. I really don’t know why they bother given the failure rate. I can only assume that as they don’t warentee the DMF they care more about the 2mpg they can claim than the bill faced by an owner of their product a few years down the line.

There’s speculating on car forums that the price of 2nd hand diesels will crash when people catch on to how costly some of the repairs can be.

I’m thinking of buying an S-MAX 2.0 but you do hear of these letting go with monotonous regularity….

Selection bias. People only post online when theirs fails. No-one goes onto a forum and creates a thread saying ‘My DMF is fine!’

I think they are susceptible to driving style. Having driven with some right clumsy buggers I can only imagine what damage they are doing to that and the rest of their poor car.

What are the symptoms of a failing DMF?
The clutch is starting to slip on my ’07 2.0 tdci focus (69k) but I’m hoping not to have to change the DMF as well.

Whilst I have occasionally razzed it, 99% of my driving has been sympathetic (imo 🙂 )

It rattles and clunks like hell at low revs, and clunks when you lift off then put the power on again afaik.

Clutch slip is not a symptom.

Cheers !

But….. The received wisdom is a slipping clutch will bugger the DMF and they are usually changed as a matched pair due to the labour involved.

Molegrips +1 on symptoms.. here a thread I had, which turn out to be the DMF (cost some-where between £6-800 for a Valeo solid flywheel conversion I forget exactly, by my tame mechanic)

Cheers for the advice guys. Ended up buying the dual flywheel and clutch parts made by Sachs. It was the Eurocarparts website, 20% off so save £100 in total. Still pricey though.

The reason you change other parts at the same time is purely access/labour- it makes little sense to take the engine out and refit it with some parts with a (relatively) limited lifespan. So if you do any of the Unholy Trinity (clutch, clutch slave and DMF) you do them all, if you possibly can. Failure of any one isn’t really linked to the other directly, but by the time one fails the others are likely to be a little tired.

davosaurusrex – Member

Is it a case of not if but when with Ford TDCis?

Well, it is, in the same way as “will I die if” always ends with yes. Mine is a lightly tuned 2.2 on its original clutch, slave and DMF, I fully expect one to kick the bucket eventually but 115000 miles in and they’re happy. 120000 miles on the old Focus and the DMF and clutch were both perfect (they had an easy ride with the feeble engine I think) but the slave went.

Depress clutch on start up or stopping, to make it last longer.

Try convining your partner to do likewise.!!!

Just replaced DMF and clutch on the wifes ’09 Volvo V50 about two weeks ago.
Cost was £845.

Now the bloody things popped a service note onto the dash, back in on Friday. 🙄

Lesanita2 – Member
Depress clutch on start up or stopping, to make it last longer

That’ll be the release bearing instead then 🙁

Boblo – it protects the dmf. Rapid acceleration (force) wears them out. Smax is good for 100k miles, then you have a £1000 bill. 1p/mile. Very poor Ford.

Yes, thanks. I have the pleasure of having a Focus that needed two of the buggers 🙁

Just had it done on my T4 @ 144,000 miles. £462.00 at Roper Farm, Queensbury, top guys who have been doing clutch and gearboxes for years.

The solid flywheel job is slightly more expensive and 144,000 miles is surely pretty good. At the 10,000 miles a year I do it should outlast the van. LUK by the way.

Just replaced DMF and clutch on the wifes ’09 Volvo V50 about two weeks ago.
Cost was £845.

How many miles?

Off the top of my head, 60,000.

I’ve done 40 k in one car & 70 k in another, both Fiestas with learner drivers and had no trouble.

Guessing they are DMF as well as the Focus ?