Hi all

I need some advice please. My Dual Mass Flywheel started making a grinding noise on my 2003 Ford Focus 1.8 TDCi a few weeks ago so I got it replaced, under recommendation from the repair garage, with a solid flywheel replacement kit from Valeo.

Fortunately my AA warranty covered most of the labour and conversion kit cost!

UNfortunately I am now left with significant periodic vibrations through the clutch pedal when depressed. This makes the car very irritating to drive and I probably will not be able to sell this on in it's current state. I was assured by the garage prior to repair that there is no difference in feel on the clutch changing from DMF to SMF. How wrong they were!

The garage did not notice how bad the vibrations were when initially test driving and still assure me that this is normal (although they are starting to doubt themselves after phoning them today!).

I can't believe that this level of vibration is normal.....does anyone know if the crankshaft pulley/damper should have been changed at the same time? Arn't the pulleys fitted different for DMF's compared to solid flywheels?? Is this just due to poor fitting of flywheel and clutch!?

Thanks

 

Did they fit you a sprung clutch plate instead of a solid one? there has to be some give in the clutch system. Previously the give was in the DMF now the spring needs to be in the clutch friction plate. If it has been fitted with one then there must be an issue with the fitting as the conversions should not feel any different. They should have changed the slave cylinder as well. Not sure about the crankshaft pully/dampener as my focus does not have one. I changed my DMF on my ST170 myself for a solid fly and it drives and feels lovely

 

Wish mine drove so smooth! They fitted a new slave cylinder. Not sure on whether they fitted a spring in the clutch friction plate. I assume as the whole kit came from Valeo that they would have thought of supplying a sprung clutch in the first place, I will have to ask the garage. I thought the crankshaft pulley would have been the issue for diesels??

Just hope they can pull the gearbox open without charging me again....it's their fault after all!

 

Have yet to find ANYONE who has had a successful DMF to solid flywheel conversion specifically on a Ford Focus TDCi......

There must be someone out there who has had a poor flywheel conversion rectified properly!? Hello......echo.....echo.....echo

 

couple of guys here use Valeo SMF without any significant difference, so you either got bad parts or bad labour

 

fitted loads myself and never had any problems at all so looks like you got unlucky depends how bad the vibrations are slight vibration through the pedal when it is depressed is normal on cars with hydraulic clutches as the pipes are usually mounted to the engine or gearbox and the vibrations you feel are just the engine moving about against its mountings, excessive vibration could be caused by a loose flywheel i have seen this on a focus it aint good cus this one had parted company with the crank and smashed throught the side of the block, smashed the bellhousing to pieces, smashed the rad and dented the bonnet! luckily it didnt go through the bulkhead and into the car as that has been knoen to happen before (so ive heard!)

 

Do you mean using Valeo SMF's on actual Ford Focus 1.8 TDCi's?

 

Thanks for the info. My symptoms are mainly significant clutch pedal pulsing, this can't be normal surely? If so then the DMF was massively smoother and I may just switch back to a DMF in the near future as my left foot won't take much more of sitting in traffic being sharply massaged by the clutch peddle!

 

could have a little bit of air in the system and may just require bleeding again. and really you shouldnt sit in traffic with your foot on the clutch it doesnt do the pressure plate or release bearing any good at all and can cause premature clutch failure

 

STU - yes, I mean Valeo SMF on Focus MK1 TDCi's, both 100 and 115 bhp... the difference should be barely noticeable

 

I try not to where ever possible but it's a little difficult to get into the habit of leaving it in neutral when your regularly stoping and starting in heavy traffic.

 

The garage has now replaced the Valeo flywheel conversion kit under warranty and my clutch pedal issue is still there as strong as ever!

All parts from the new and old Valeo kit have been inspected by the garage and there are no faults, I'm awaiting Valeo to inspect them but I doubt they will find anything. No faults found by the garage with other transmissions parts either or air bubbles in the hydraulics...........

I'm struggling to see what can really solve the pulsing vibration effect on the depressed clutch pedal?

I have seen different slave cylinders, different crankshaft pulleys and even different cars being offerered as solutions! But without spending hours trying find the cause there seems to be no quick solution

I have driven 3 older diesels belonging to friends and family since, which all have a solid flywheels as standard from first build and all of them have clutches as smooth as silk!!!

I doubt different shoes or stronger springs on the clutch pedal would supress it, might be worth a try though!

I can't believe it when Valeo said they have never had an issue with someone fitting these kits to a Ford Focus. I have put the question to the garage as to if the engine mounting needs checking as the clutch pedal vibration is more than slight. I just can't believe that Valeo would design a kit like this and expect every customer to be happy with this kind of level of vibration through the clutch pedal.

I actually get a tingling sensation up my left foot after 10 mins of stop-starting in heavy traffic. It looks like I'll be selling this car on in the not too distant future as some 'older' members of my family can barely feel any vibration from the clutch pedal! Maybe it's my feet that are too sensitive!

 

I have changed mine on my Focus TDCI ghia 100 and there is no difference at all. I Used a Valeo cluth kit with solid flywheel and It is starting even better now!

 

Did you change it yourself? If so did you change the slave cylinder or crankshaft pulley? Is the clutch pedal stiffer now when depressed since changing from a DMF?

Shame the garage could not sort out the issue with my kit installation......

I noticed this morning that it was significantly better when pulling the clutch pedal left or right as it seemed looser than the acelerator or brake pedals. Perhaps tightening the pedal pivot and stronger release spring is in order??? I haven't a clue really....

 

I didn't changed it my self but as my mechanic is a friend as well and have been modifying our cosworths for these last ten years I helped him changing it and yes as the kit included everything ie: Solid flywheel with bolts, slave cylinder, and the valeo clutch we changed everything. I was not so happy to fit a valeo clutch as I had an Escort with a turbo diesel before and the valeo clutch I had fitted was rubbish but this was the only kit I found on e-bay and as I live in Malta I don't have so much options but till now I am quite happy with this modification. As the pedal it is slighty stiffer but I prefer it that way as I feel like I am pressing something!! As the clutch goes I think is better thn the DMF, but that's only my opinion!!!!

 

what are u running on urs now? helix clutch and fly?
i got a quote from them which wasn't overly terrible.

 

No, what your feeling is the torsional vibrations within the crankshaft. You can get away with removing a DMF on a petrol car as they are mainly for refinement. On a diesel they are for refinement but also crank durability for higher power diesels, as the peak cylinder pressure are very very high. The Dual Mass lowers the overall stress in the crank.


There is no way to solve your problem appart from refitting the DMF as it was designed to be. Also don't be surprised if your crank gives up the ghost in 10k miles. DMF's aren't for fun, they don't spend a small fortune having them designed and signed off becuase they like to charge you lots when you need to replace them.

JAmes.

 

get it off asap mate before you snap your crank,and yes i have seen it happen, euro car parts stopped selling the solid flywheel conversion due to cranks snapping

 

ive done hundreds of these conversions on various makes of car and as of yet i have not had a problem tho i will bear it in mind as it does sound very plausible, if i get any back with snapped cranks at least i will know the cause lol!
cheers for the info tho in this trade you really do learn something new every day

 

?? i bought one of them on monday!

 

i done 58k in my tdci focus which was slightly modded to 128 bhp and 222 lb/ft with a smf in the whole time, never had one problem, clutch was smooth, quiet and i drove that car hard all the time. the cranks will not break thats a load of tosh to me i would say the concentric slave cylinder is not running true to the grooves on the pressure plate finger causing a pulsing through the clutch pedal, my current st170 does this and it drive me barmy

 

i made my own solid flywheel for the focus as though the valio one was shit.

i got a fly wheel from the earlyer tddi focus, welded up the timing marks and remachine in the new ones from the tdci (36 pick insted of 18)

then spaced out the realease bearing 2mm (this is important, you could change to an earlyer clutch arm insted if you prefered. )

its done 10,000 miles now and theres no difference in smoothness, runnng a remap and boost rise aswell, with a standard tddi clutch plate

 

if your tha worries about snapping a crank ( i find this highly unlickly with the revs a derv would run) then change to the dampened crank pulley from the tddi early models.

 

Wish I had the mechanical competance to do this! The pulsing on my clutch pedal drives me up the wall sometimes after switching to a solid valeo clutch kit!!

Surely the must be some kind of vibration suppressor for hydraulic clutches on the market for the many cars thast have this issue!?! And if not....why not!

 

Hi just wondering if anyone could help as I’m pulling my hair out don’t have much hair as it is

anyway I changed my dual mass flywheel with a solid one including the clutch and all that needed to be changed to convert it but now the car won’t start was told could be the crank case sensor which I’ve brought a new one and changed again no start tried easy start will go but over rev and then cut back off and again no start now been told it’s the incorrect fly wheel as the new one has teeth but the old one is like square holes on a plate so would that make any difference or am I missing something I’ve checked and double checked the wires etc and nothing is missing?