Actually I don’t mind costing big, we have money, but as a Yorkshireman you’ll understand the wish not to waste the stuff unnecessarily. The last car I had to do a clutch on was an MG Metro, so I’m not up to speed with how to get the right job at the right price. Is there a network of clutch specialists like a kwikfit these days? Main dealer? And what else to get done while it’s in bits? Flywheel and oil seal? Cheers all.

It might be a DMF and clutch automatically, rather than by choice. Depending on how far gone they are, starter motor could be affected too.

My Focus got traded in sharpish for not much above scrap value when it became apparent the clutch was on the way out.

It might be a DMF and clutch automatically, rather than by choice. Depending on how far gone they are, starter motor could be affected too.

Me being tight on these issues cost our Kuga a new gearbox which of course included DMF & clutch – £2300 all in fitted. The good news is it passed its MOT 1/2 hour ago so bangernomics 101 and by extension maximising that Gearbox investment continues for another year.

It’s on 92500 miles and we’ve had it from nearly new, I’d like to think we can get at least another five years from it, Nowt major has gone wrong with it, was kind of hoping to keep it going until a viable electric replacement comes along.

I changed the clutch and DMF on my S-Max about 6 months ago.  DMF was knackered but the clutch was okay, so it was more of a precautionary clutch change.

Mate works for Ford so I supplied the parts which was about £500 and he charged me £300 for labour.  I believe it’s quite a lengthy job.  I would expect it to be way over £1000 at a main dealer

Cost about a grand when we did clutch and dmf on our s max. Little independent guy who charged about £35 an hour labour. The clutch was ok it was the dmf that had gone. Can’t remember what mileage it was at the time but we had the car from new until it was 8 years and 108000 miles. Traded in for £3500 at that point.

My 2.0 Mondeo was about £800 for the clutch and a LUK DMF at out local Suzuki dealer, maybe a grand. I have the reciept but it’s buried just now.

Mr Clutch are very competitive for a clutch and DMF. Think I paid £750 odd for our SMAX a few years ago.

New DMF and clutch on my SMax last December cost me just short of £800 at local garage. Ford garage wanted £1300.

Well I requested quotes from three places, main dealer just came back with £1147 for Clutch and DMF, haven’t heard back from others yet. I’ll try MrClutch too, now I know they exist.

It might be worth seeing if a single mass flywheel is available – BIL had one fitted to his Golf, £170 cheaper than dual mass & he can’t tell the difference.

Aye we were quoted £1400 from a main dealer for a clutch and DMF in a 2.0 diesel Focus a few years ago. After much toing and froing, we paid them £700. Felt a bit like buying double glazing… 🙄

ford have a price match policy on things like this, as long as you’re within reasonable space with an independant quote

1) HOW much!?!?! Christ, I didn’t realise clutches were so expensive

2) whocanfixmycar.com is good for this. You put in the job and a bunch of localish garages send quotes.

Clutches aren’t that dear, couple of hundred, tops. Separating all the driveshaft gubbins, removing most of the stuff above it then hauling the engine out so you can separate the bell housing from it to get at the clutch, time consuming and ties up a ramp for a full day at the workshop. Hence swap the flywheel and oil seal (as both as susceptible to fail during the life of the car) that are also in there while access is good. Some cars have much better access, particularly old fashioned rear wheel drive ones, so cost can be less than half that.

It might be worth seeing if a single mass flywheel is available – BIL had one fitted to his Golf, £170 cheaper than dual mass & he can’t tell the difference

That £170 won’t seem like such a saving when his gearbox fails! DMF are fitted as car drivelines have become lighter with less rotational mass over the years – the DMF absorbs the ‘power pulse’s’ that otherwise would be fed through the gearbox.

Starting and stopping a DMF equipped engine with the clutch in helps prolong them as does running higher revs and spending less time labouring at low revs/high loads

As a similar age/mileage SMax owner who hasn’t done many miles in it since buying it do you mind me asking what symptoms you got / noticed first?

Likewise any DMF warning signs other than the death rattle having just seen RNP’s post.

I am half expecting to need to do ours at some point soonish but Last time I had a clutch replaced it was the DMF that went fairly quickly and it was like a bag of rattly spanners so pretty obvious something was up but iirc terminal clutch plate wear is more subtle. It’s been 20 years since I did a clutch with worn plates so doubting myself a bit.

Make sure thrust bearing is included in the change.
My old Mondeo lunched its second clutch 60k miles after having the plates replaced as the previous lease company skipped the cost of it.
Clutch specialist in the valleys did it properly for £650, albeit 10 years ago.

It was a few years ago now but the DMF and clutch on our Smax was about £900, I think, by a local garage, although my memory is pretty vague these days…. The car had about 90k on the clock.

As a similar age/mileage SMax owner who hasn’t done many miles in it since buying it do you mind me asking what symptoms you got / noticed first?

First hint something wasn’t quite right was acceleration not quite smooth, and a little judder around 60 in 4th? Most of my driving is in daylight, and often with sunnies on, so not looking at the dials, so missed the main telltale. Last week coming back from hols pretty well loaded on dual carriageways with roundabouts, lots of accelerations to 70 from 30ish and from 60-75 through traffic. Sit at 60, in 5th, floor it and watch the revs. Should be locked in to increase in line with speed , but you can see the needle spiking up an extra few hundred revs and hear/feel the engine surge without producing acceleration. If your engine revs aren’t getting to the wheels, clutch is slipping. Also, moving off at slow car park speeds, getting quite grabby and jerky, often a symptom of a contaminated clutch. We have had a slow minor oil drip from the area for several years, so was actually expecting not to have got this far without failing.

We’ve had it from 10 months old at 1,700 miles, ex Motability. It had DPF problems from very short trips shortly after we got it, but still in warranty so sorted by Ford, but other than that, mostly trouble free. It’s big and heavy so tyres and brakes might not last as long as you’re used to, so keep an eye on them.

Thanks @midlifecrashes

Was chatting to another SMax owner on our camp site last week who like you had had theirs since virtually new and was sharing a few bits of knowledge. I like to try and understand what I’m driving and what to keep an eye on/likely breakages (like the loom into the tailgate).

We got ours last year, oldest car I think I’ve bought since I graduated but hoping it will do us a few years before electric options become more viable for us/kids shun us and we don’t need the space so much!