Modern cars - clutches

andygb

Sorry to hear that about the Focus, but I am pretty sure it is covered by the warranty.
There is no way you should "lose" the clutch after 12K miles on a car less than a year old. It isn't even down to the DMF (which can fail at this distance) but the hydraulic system.
I reckon you should go to Ford's main HQ in the UK and kick up a big stink.

andygb

bigjl wrote: »

It depends what the fault is.

I had a clutch replaced at over 30k on a Seat Toledo, it wasn't slipping or juddering but was making a shrieking sound.

Never did ask what the issue was, it was a '99 110 Tdi so not even sure if it had a DMF.

Car drove no different at any time, could have been the release bearing.

Everything you wanted to know about a DMF

http://www.schaeffler.com/remotemedien/media/_shared_media/08_media_library/01_publications/schaeffler_2/symposia_1/downloads_11/4_dmfw_1.pdf

When we bought our 1.9 Octavia with 97K miles, the DMF was noisy, and we managed to carve around £800 off the price. We replaced it with a single/solid flywheel clutch combination for around £400 (including fitting), and it has done around 47K miles so far.

spendaholic

andygb wrote: »

I reckon you should go to Ford's main HQ in the UK and kick up a big stink.

Thanks. I think so too - and I would. We'll have to see what the mechanic has to say when he comes back to us first. But yes, I think so too.

bigjl

andygb wrote: »

Everything you wanted to know about a DMF

http://www.schaeffler.com/remotemedien/media/_shared_media/08_media_library/01_publications/schaeffler_2/symposia_1/downloads_11/4_dmfw_1.pdf

When we bought our 1.9 Octavia with 97K miles, the DMF was noisy, and we managed to carve around £800 off the price. We replaced it with a single/solid flywheel clutch combination for around £400 (including fitting), and it has done around 47K miles so far.

What year was your Octavia?

If I ever need some cheap wheels I would have another Toledo of that shape (99-06 I think)

Knowing if it had a DMF or not would be handy info.

Funnily enough my old Toledo turned up on eBay about 5 yrs ago, had less miles on it than when I sold it!

Still looked good though, was a nice metallic blue.

andygb

bigjl wrote: »

What year was your Octavia?

If I ever need some cheap wheels I would have another Toledo of that shape (99-06 I think)

Knowing if it had a DMF or not would be handy info.

Our Octavia is a 55 reg 2005 car, with the basic 105bhp engine (although a mate reckons it may have been remapped - quite a bit more power than normal:)).
On the test drive there was a bit of mechanical noise from the clutch, so I factored that into the price.
After a couple of months, there was a sound like spanners being shaken around in a tin box, when you drove up hills, so I called my local ex VAG mechanis and he confirmed it was the DMF.
I got in touch with a company up in Yorkshire called "Darkside Developments" in Barnsley (I think), and they do conversion kits for most VW group engines, as well as tuning parts.

I have found this link to some shocking tales of early DMF demise, and also someone who has fitted the single/solid kit replacement.

http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php/107949-Dual-Mass-Flywheel-failure-after-only-39K-miles

As for the cars which were fitted with DMF's, this may answer some (but not all) questions.

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/160805-dual-mass-flywheels-dmf/

This is the link to Darkside Developments, and the single flywheel conversion kits (they do cheap and more importantly correct fitting as well) which they provide.

http://www.darksidedevelopments.co.uk/transmission/

Mankysteve

force_ten wrote: »

I have never looked at the Hyundai i10 in my life and have no idea how good it is as a car all i know is it got bad press for having early clutch failure

It was on the first gen ones secound and now third gens one are much better.

Its the same with DMFs they did fail a lot but now there a lot more reliable.

Modern car engines are lot light internals with a lot less inertia so much easier to stall so people tend to as been suggested slip the clutch more with higher revs to get it going.

Someone else mentioned keeping the clutch pressed while most people nowadays stick in neutral at the lights. Its never been best practice to keep the clutch depressed at the lights. It wears out the clutch release bearing that isn't just a problem for new cars its also one for old as well.

spendaholic

Almost four weeks later we got our car back. There was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and Ford categorically stated and reiterated over and over again that they never, ever, ever cover clutches in their warranties ... however, due to our history with them and this particular dealership, they did agree to go halves with us on the cost.

The work, which was done 3 weeks ago (our car's been sitting there ever since), was initially quoted as £1,600 and Ford offered us £460 for parts and labour but no VAT. So when we asked what the other £680 was for, it came back that they were prepared to pay £706-odd, inc VAT, leaving us £706-odd inc VAT to pay, which still only came to £1,410-ish and not £1,600.

Ford Relations went from one 5-day period to another 5-day period without any contact or updates and we had to call the hire car place, the service place, the warranty place, the customer services place ourselves. Until I went on social media with it ... and someone responded immediately and then kept us updated every single day for a week.

They held our car hostage and didn't even do the first-service it was originally booked in for. But we were permitted to collect it last night - although they had cleaned it for us.

When he handed over our invoice with all the parts listed, he said (and I quote): "and that's your warranty on the parts ..."

"But it's a clutch ..." said I. (See above. Nuff said.)

They're absolutely not getting our first-service now, even if it does include a year's free AA membership. And if we still decide to get me a Ka or a Fiesta next year, we won't be going there for it.

londonTiger

facade wrote: »

He probably means that the way people drive nowadays is to rev the engine until it is bouncing off the end of the rev counter with the limiter cutting in, and then slip the clutch to get going, which wears them out.

In The Olden Days, we used to drop the clutch in at slightly above tickover, and the car would just pull smoothly away, but we only had a couple of gears, and much bigger low revving engines.

Shouldn't be a problem. if you drive it properly and the clutch is fine when you buy it.

abs, better tyres, traction control, shorter brake speeds means people are more likely to accelerate hard and push the car quit rough. before all of that with drum brakes all round, crappy tyres, likelihood of breaking the engine by revving it too hard meant people didn't prat around in their cars.

londonTiger

Mankysteve wrote: »

Its never been best practice to keep the clutch depressed at the lights. It wears out the clutch release bearing that isn't just a problem for new cars its also one for old as well.

Sod that, it's so grating when you're driving in London and you're 5th in line on a red light and you know the light typically changes every 15 seconds. When each car s-l-o-w-l-y reacts to the car in front. it's like the 2nd car has no clue lights changed green so waits for the 1st car to be 2 car lengths away before it will react, 3rd car to 2nd, 4th car to 3rd and so on.

By the time I can move off, the light has been green for 10 seconds already and any second it will become amber again.

Just imagine if everyone is now in neutral and has to get back in gear before driving off!

Zandoni

londonTiger wrote: »

Just imagine if everyone is now in neutral and has to get back in gear before driving off!

There would be a lot of happy clutches around.

You can sit in traffic out of gear and with your handbrake on, you just need to watch the cars in front.