Bought a used car 2 months ago, now the dual mass flywheels faulty!

Strider590

Drive like a knob and your brakes are going to wear out earlier.
Drive like a knob and your DMF is going to fail earlier.

I can't remember the last time I saw BMW not being driven in a manner befitting a complete knob.

It's wear and tear, unfortunately the OP simply didn't do the driving that caused the failure.

neilmcl

Strider590 wrote: »

Drive like a knob and your brakes are going to wear out earlier.
Drive like a knob and your DMF is going to fail earlier.

I can't remember the last time I saw BMW not being driven in a manner befitting a complete knob.

It's wear and tear, unfortunately the OP simply didn't do the driving that caused the failure.

And only a complete "knob" would make daft, generalist statements like that.

motorguy

arcon5 wrote: »

No it's not! Hear this rubbish far too often.
Mondeos are renowned from DMF failure yet you don't see private hire vehicles putting new clutches in every year.
Local driving will reduce its lifespan, not cut it in half!

The dealer obviously agrees it shouldn't have failed so soon also, otherwise they wouldn't be sorting it.

This 'it's a consumable' 'it's a wear and tear item' argument is thrown around far too much around here. Just because something wears doesn't mean it is t faulty. An engine is subject to wear and tear, doesn't mean we accept premature failure. So why people accept such on flywheels costing significant sums is beyond me

Its a 9 year old car, thats covered 60K miles in goodness knows what sort of driving conditions - quite possibly a lot of short runs given the low miles.

Its quite possible for a clutch to be worn out at that miles, so therefore quite possible for the flywheel to go too - it is, after all the vibration on cold start ups of diesels that causes the most damage to them.

motorguy

arcon5 wrote: »

Mondeos are renowned from DMF failure yet you don't see private hire vehicles putting new clutches in every year.

You do know its the act of starting the engine from cold that causes the most damage to a DMF, NOT the amount of times you change gear OR the miles done?

A taxi might start from cold first thing in the morning and run all day.

This car might have done 4x as many cold starts on short runs.

motorguy

forgotmyname wrote: »

The dealer may have sourced a cheap used item to fit.

Its would be extremely unlikely they would use a used flywheel.

forgotmyname

I didnt see whether it was a large dealer or a small garage? Did i miss that?

I wouldnt put it past a small garage fitting a used part.

motorguy

forgotmyname wrote: »

I didnt see whether it was a large dealer or a small garage? Did i miss that?

I wouldnt put it past a small garage fitting a used part.

It would be a huge risk for the dealer - finding a used one that you know is not on its way out already, getting an exact one for that exact car from that exact year, and finding a breakers yard that will take an engine and box out, split it off and sell you the flywheel separate?

Sounds like an awful lot of risk and fannying about to me - and i was a trader who would have faced these sort of problems.

You can buy a brand new LUK flywheel for around £250, and a full LUK flywheel kit including clutch from around £350.

On top of that you're probably looking at a days labour to fit it. Maybe a bit more.

If hes anything like me, he probably has a mechanic somewhere who works for £15 an hour.

And on top of that, he'll claim the VAT back on the parts and offset the cost against his taxes.

bigjl

forgotmyname wrote: »

I didnt see whether it was a large dealer or a small garage? Did i miss that?

I wouldnt put it past a small garage fitting a used part.

Not sure on what experience you are using to make that statement.

But as the labour is the most expensive part of the billIndoubt a Garage large or small woul take that kind of risk.

Sometimes the anti dealer rhetoric on this forum gets boring.

Dealers don't keep cars in stock and drive them till they make a funny noise occasionally then sell them to avoid a big bill.

Owners trade them in and open the occasional noise doesn't show itself when their part ex is valued.

bigjl

motorguy wrote: »

You do know its the act of starting the engine from cold that causes the most damage to a DMF, NOT the amount of times you change gear OR the miles done?

A taxi might start from cold first thing in the morning and run all day.

This car might have done 4x as many cold starts on short runs.

One of the most important things to do with a DMF is to depress the clutch when starting and stopping the engine.

Though how many owners do?

How many owners read the manual?

I have never had a DMF fail and my DMF equipped vehicles all did huge mileages.

bigjl

arcon5 wrote: »

No it's not! Hear this rubbish far too often.
Mondeos are renowned from DMF failure yet you don't see private hire vehicles putting new clutches in every year.
Local driving will reduce its lifespan, not cut it in half!

The dealer obviously agrees it shouldn't have failed so soon also, otherwise they wouldn't be sorting it.

This 'it's a consumable' 'it's a wear and tear item' argument is thrown around far too much around here. Just because something wears doesn't mean it is t faulty. An engine is subject to wear and tear, doesn't mean we accept premature failure. So why people accept such on flywheels costing significant sums is beyond me

Even manufacturers of DMFs regard them as a serviceable item, yes they have a very long life if treated correctly much like any other complicated piece of technology.

But they are not expected to last the life of the vehicle and never where.

They don't need to be replaced when you change a clutch, you can buy tools to check how much life is left, but most people rightly see the Labour costs as the biggest cost so it makes more sense to change them both, just like a release bearing.

With incorrect usage you can ruin a DMF extremely quickly.

Did the OP depress the clutch on start up and shut down!

Do they drive the car in too high a gear? Which causes a DMF to overheat and fail.

60k and 9 years isn't a poor life for a DMF. Sounds like a short tripper which means lots of clutch use and lots of starting and stopping of the engine.