Dual Mass Flywheel.
Discussion
I have recently been reading more and more stories (and comments in car ads) about people having problems with DMF failures on modern cars. What I don't understand is how these are different to standard flywheels, why they are commonly used, and how the failure manifests itself. Also, are they as easy to replace as a normal flywheel of arethey really difficult and expensive to procure? Are there any cars to avoid or do they all have these now?
i originally just thought they were used on diesel powered cars to smooth the engine vibrations to the gearbox?
Bloody expensive for what they are and ive seen a fair few cars arrive in my local scrappy where the DMF has failed and effectively written the car off as its unecconomical to repair them, my dads Saab is in a similar position right now - clutch dying but not worth spendin £500+ on it. That said my mates dad is making a tidy bit of money on the side weighing all the fff'd DMFs in for scrap and changing VAGs to VR6/G60 based single flywheel + clutch set ups.
dave
Bloody expensive for what they are and ive seen a fair few cars arrive in my local scrappy where the DMF has failed and effectively written the car off as its unecconomical to repair them, my dads Saab is in a similar position right now - clutch dying but not worth spendin £500+ on it. That said my mates dad is making a tidy bit of money on the side weighing all the fff'd DMFs in for scrap and changing VAGs to VR6/G60 based single flywheel + clutch set ups.
dave
My Dad bought a Mondy TDCi last year, it was 4 years old with 40k on the clock and the DMF went after he'd owned it only 4 months. I think it was £350 to replace. He was gutted as it was a) the 1st ford he had ever owned (20 yrs of vauxhall with no problems) and b) the 1st diesel he had ever bought.
He still rates it above any of the Vauxhalls though.
He still rates it above any of the Vauxhalls though.
HellDiver said:
Yes.
They add £350+ extra to a simple clutch change. Or the failing DMF forces a clutch change (as is happening on my 1.8 petrol Mondeo).
And then some!!They add £350+ extra to a simple clutch change. Or the failing DMF forces a clutch change (as is happening on my 1.8 petrol Mondeo).
When I had my mondeo and I thought the flywheel was going (rattling noise and doing odd things), I asked around for quotes.
Cheapest was £900, most expensive was £1600.
Business partners company mondeo, they billed the leasing company £1550.
Worst clutch enhancement ever to happen to cars - makes cheap high milage diesels worthless as when the clutch goes, its dead.
I will not buy a car with a DMF for as long as I can avoid it.
cpas said:
How can you find out if certain cars have them? I assumed that it was only modern diesels, but saw an advert for a Mondeo V6 which had had one changed!! Is it something that a competent home mechanic could fit?
If you can change a clutch, then you should be able to change a DM flywheel. Porsche have used them since the early 90's with many early failures on 911/964's to the point that many people swapped to the lighter solid flywheel from the RS 
Mr2Mike said:
Quite a few petrol engines have them these days. e.g some variants of the VAG 1.8T.
Yes, they do, although the flywheel is only about £120 (Eurocarparts to a clutch/flywheel kit for about £250). Not a major issue if the clutch has gone anyway as the labour is little extra - more of a pain if it's the flywheel and the clutch is otherwise fine.The issue seems to be that some manufacturers seem to be able to design/spec quality DMF's which last the lifetime of the car in most cases whilst others seem to have pushed down costs so far the DMF's are fundamentally flawed designs.
A LOT of petrols have them although failure seems more common on diesels.
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