Dual mass flywheel to solid conversion

Dual mass flywheel to solid conversion

Author
Discussion

jackking

Original Poster:

17 posts

28 months

Friday 21st June
quotequote all
I was expecting to find a solid flywheel on my nissan qashqai 2011 1.5dci as this is what's listed for my year reg number by parts suppliers, it's also shown in the haynes manual, the previous owner may have had the dmf fitted.

Anyone done a dmf to solid flywheel conversion and what did you think was it the the right or wrong choice. Should i convert from dual mass flywheel to solid flywheel or would you stick with the dmf, i'm in two minds to which one to order.

E-bmw

9,976 posts

159 months

Friday 21st June
quotequote all
AFAIK a solid to Dual Mass is not a thing, so I would guess that your original information is incorrect.

I have recently done a 2010 & 2012 clutch on diesels & both were DMF.

Where did you get the info that it was solid?

ETA. Every one I can see on ebay is a DMF.

Edited by E-bmw on Friday 21st June 07:17

jackking

Original Poster:

17 posts

28 months

Friday 21st June
quotequote all
When i broke down the guy from the breakdown company (one of the large recovery companies) said due to the cars age it will be a solid flywheel and not dmf if it's on the original clutch and not been changed, also when i phoned a local parts supply company to see if they had a clutch in stock and gave them my reg number they said it's listed as a solid flywheel type.

Is the dmf original to the 2011 1.5 dci, if so i'll stick with the dmf.


E-bmw

9,976 posts

159 months

Friday 21st June
quotequote all
ECP & GSF also both say DMF.




stevieturbo

17,530 posts

254 months

Friday 21st June
quotequote all
jackking said:
When i broke down the guy from the breakdown company (one of the large recovery companies) said due to the cars age it will be a solid flywheel and not dmf if it's on the original clutch and not been changed, also when i phoned a local parts supply company to see if they had a clutch in stock and gave them my reg number they said it's listed as a solid flywheel type.

Is the dmf original to the 2011 1.5 dci, if so i'll stick with the dmf.
2011, DMF's have been around for easily a decade prior to that, and very common especially on diesels.

It would seem odd to suggest that a vehicle of that age would not have a DMF, as it would be perfectly normal to have one.

Tony1963

5,331 posts

169 months

Saturday 22nd June
quotequote all
stevieturbo said:
2011, DMF's have been around for easily a decade prior to that, and very common especially on diesels.

It would seem odd to suggest that a vehicle of that age would not have a DMF, as it would be perfectly normal to have one.
Surprisingly, DMFs were first used in production cars in 1985!

stevieturbo

17,530 posts

254 months

Saturday 22nd June
quotequote all
Tony1963 said:
Surprisingly, DMFs were first used in production cars in 1985!
Pretty sure my old Volvo 940 turbo had one towards the end of the 90's

But they did become commonplace on diesels mid-late 90's and beyond.

What used them back in 85 ?

Tony1963

5,331 posts

169 months

the-norseman

13,411 posts

178 months

Sunday 23rd June
quotequote all
I've had a few SMF conversions.

1 MK2 Leon FR TDI , we fitted a "silent" kit from a company called Southbend, it worked well but wasn't silent
2 MK2 Leon Cupra R (Petrol,) we fitted the same kit to this car, was very silent
3 MK2 Golf with MK3 Golf TDI set up, I think this ran a "G60 " SMF it was quite noisy
4 MK1 Leon FR TDI, fitted a Valeo SMF conversion kit

I prefer the heavy pedal feel that seems to come with these kits, but they can be very noisy especially in diesel application.

paintman

7,765 posts

197 months

Sunday 23rd June
quotequote all
jackking said:
When i broke down the guy from the breakdown company (one of the large recovery companies) said due to the cars age it will be a solid flywheel and not dmf if it's on the original clutch and not been changed, also when i phoned a local parts supply company to see if they had a clutch in stock and gave them my reg number they said it's listed as a solid flywheel type.

Is the dmf original to the 2011 1.5 dci, if so i'll stick with the dmf.
Give a Nissan franchised dealer's parts dept a call & see what they have listed.

njw1

2,241 posts

118 months

Sunday 23rd June
quotequote all
A mate and myself fitted a solid flywheel to a Freelander TD4, a problem we had was the clutch wouldn't disengage to select a gear, it turned out that the solid flywheel was marginally thicker than the old DMF and there wasn't enough travel on the slave cylinder to allow for this, we had the solid flywheel machined to make it fit.
It was a pig to drive too, the bite point was fierce so you had to be super light with the clutch or it would stall, it was almost impossible to change gear without the whole car juddering, there also seemed to a lot if vibration that wasn't there before.

ThingsBehindTheSun

1,247 posts

38 months

Sunday 23rd June
quotequote all
So basically it is DMF for a reason and fitting a solid flywheel will increase NVH and make it horrible to drive.

stevieturbo

17,530 posts

254 months

Sunday 23rd June
quotequote all
ThingsBehindTheSun said:
So basically it is DMF for a reason and fitting a solid flywheel will increase NVH and make it horrible to drive.
Potentially yes. But just depends on the vehicle, some are more tolerant than others.

Although in the case of the OP, he thinks his car might have a solid, but only DMF are listed. It would seem highly un likely though a car of his age would have anything other than a DMF when supplied new.

GeniusOfLove

2,258 posts

19 months

Monday 24th June
quotequote all
the-norseman said:
I've had a few SMF conversions.

1 MK2 Leon FR TDI , we fitted a "silent" kit from a company called Southbend, it worked well but wasn't silent
2 MK2 Leon Cupra R (Petrol,) we fitted the same kit to this car, was very silent
3 MK2 Golf with MK3 Golf TDI set up, I think this ran a "G60 " SMF it was quite noisy
4 MK1 Leon FR TDI, fitted a Valeo SMF conversion kit

I prefer the heavy pedal feel that seems to come with these kits, but they can be very noisy especially in diesel application.
Did you do many miles on these kits?

The big torque spikes from a four cylinder turbo diesel going right into the transmission should have the potential to cause real issues over time, OEMs wouldn't use them on even very cheap cars if they weren't serving a useful purpose, but I've never talked to anyone who has done a SMF conversion on anything that wasn't close to the end of it's life anyway so having the gearbox shattered within 50,000 miles wasn't a bother because the car would do well to last another 20k.

the-norseman

13,411 posts

178 months

Monday 24th June
quotequote all
Probably put 20-30k on each of them. The first car I put the SMF in (Mk2 Leon FR TDI) I also had solid engine mounts fitted to it. Vibrated like hell the car was good fun though.

jackking

Original Poster:

17 posts

28 months

Monday 24th June
quotequote all
I downloaded the K9K engine repair workshop manual

https://eltrasteroloco.wordpress.com/wp-content/up...






It as two torque settings listed No14 Flywheel bolts 55Nm also Dual Mass Flywheel bolts 20Nm + 36 degrees, does this mean it as both SMF and DMF versions.

I've ordered a DMF clutch kit as this is what was on my car, can i check that 20Nm is the correct torque for the DMF flywheel bolts as 20Nm doesn't seem that tight and not 55Nm.


Gary C

13,171 posts

186 months

Tuesday 25th June
quotequote all
I 'think' many cars when using a DMF, dont have the normal crankshaft vibration damper ?

Which by design is quite an important component. In theory replacing a DMF with a solid flywheel, you should fit a damper.

Desiderata

2,577 posts

61 months

Tuesday 25th June
quotequote all
I first heard of DMFs when the one in my 54 plate Mondeo broke up and clogged the starter motor with fine bits of black plastic.
I replaced it with a SMF and , to my mind, it vastly improved the car, a little more dieselly in character, a little slower to rev, and a little noisier but more torquey and direct feeling.(The Mondeo with DMF was the only diesel I would regularly stall).

A few years later, my 07 plate Passat TDI (which was used for a lot of heavy lugging and towing ) needed a new clutch. After the experience of the Mondeo I had no hesitation in replacing the DMF with a SMF at the same time. Again it vastly improved the car ( although I did do a remap at the time as well).

Our current runaround is a little Skoda Fabia with the three cylinder 1.4 TDI. Ours is the last of the SMF models before VAG switched them all to DMF. Ours is a bit tractorish to drive but immensely practical and feels like it will chug away for ever.

The newer VAG models which use the same engine (Polo, Fabia, Ibiza) were all originally fitted with DMFs but following a spate of sub 50k miles DMF failures, VAG have withdrawn all DMF replacement parts and will only sell you a SMF replacement kit along with a remap when your DMF fails.
Disgustingly, they haven't accepted any liability for this, refuse to accept that DMFs aren't fit for purpose even though they won't supply them anymore, haven't issued a recall, won't cover under warranty or give anything in goodwill, and charge around £700 for the SMF kit or £1200-£1400 fitted.

the-norseman

13,411 posts

178 months

Tuesday 25th June
quotequote all
I've actually got a VAG Valeo SMF kit say in my garage doing nothing as I no longer have any VAG cars.

P2KKA

135 posts

67 months

Wednesday 10th July
quotequote all
paintman said:
Give a Nissan franchised dealer's parts dept a call & see what they have listed.
The actual answer here has just been ignored.

Nissan will be able to tell you with 99.9% accuracy what it left the factory with. I worked in Nissan parts for about 3 years and I would say its going too be a DMF, but we didn't do many clutches on cars that old. Mostly because people didn't want to pay £1000+ for the privilege. In the same vein, that's probably why the previous owner fitted a SMF. They were too tight to pay for a DMF kit.