X trail Dual Mass Flywheel woes UPDATE, something exploded

[Wack]

I bought an x trail off a mate a couple of months ago, it was going great until yesterday, the DMF is starting to play up, noisy and vibrating the car, just took it for a look see 

Ouch 

[jonathan_dyane]

I'd get it jacked up and see if you can weld the flywheel together with a stick welder. 

[Wack]

6 minutes ago, jonathan_dyane said:

I'd get it jacked up and see if you can weld the flywheel together with a stick welder. 

Is that a thing, the clutch itself feels fine, it's a bigger job because it's 4x4 

[jonathan_dyane]

It is a thing, but whether it works out depends on whether there is access to get in to do it and whether the vehicle will tolerate it. It is a terrible bodge and if you do it you need to be very gentle and smooth with the clutch because dmf clutch plates don't normally have the damping springs that normal clutch plates have also if it results in intolerable vibration that would probably mess up your gearbox bearings or if you're very unlucky break your crank.

I'd probably try it and if it didn't work out then either fix it or scrap it depending on the associated liability 

[sierraman]

Wouldn’t weld the DMF to be honest it’s a bodge. 

[Bmwdumptruck]

Think I’d start by looking for the parts myself.  Bought full Sachs kits for both my Sharans c/w DMFs for way less than these prices.  Search for the part nos and then for the parts. 

[beko1987]

Was totting up similar to fix my laguna 2's clutch pedal to the floor issues that produced similar looking numbers and it went to asm... 

Still regret it a bit now, was a good car otherwise but I didn't have the money to do all the bits that it would have needed at 170k whilst I was in there to do the slave cylinder 😥 (dmf rattled the dashboard violently if I let it, learnt to drive around that part mostly, but then doing that involve more clutch work which made the slave cylinder worse etc) 

[Wack]

Autodoc do a solid Flywheel kit Inc clutch for under £300, then it's just the slave cylinder and labour, still over a grand and I've lost the DMF and any issues that may bring 

I got the car cheap and apart from this it drives like it's done 30k not 116 

I'm tempted to just drive it until it becomes  undriveable then see where I'm at, I could do without a £1500 bill at the moment 

[Wack]

38 minutes ago, Bmwdumptruck said:

Think I’d start by looking for the parts myself.  Bought full Sachs kits for both my Sharans c/w DMFs for way less than these prices.  Search for the part nos and then for the parts. 

The only issue there is if they supply the parts and do the job it's warranted for 12 months, if I supply the parts I might save a few quid but if something goes wrong then it'll be down to me 

There's no real saving on the parts autodoc are only £150 or so cheaper tor ridex? 

I don't think for a minute I'm being ripped off, I've used these guys for years, I just think it's the price for the job, 

These days you're lucky if you can find a garage to take a job like this on at all 

[artdjones]

It's not in stock anyway but Ridex is a generic make on Autodoc. So probably Chinese. I'd only use LuK, Sachs, Exedy, or Valeo.

[sierraman]

Ridex 🤣🤣🤣

Can’t understand going to the trouble of the Labour on a big job like that and fitting dog shit like Ridex. An acquaintance recently asked me to fit one of their EGRs, complete junk, didn’t fit and arrived cracked as we discovered as soon as the system was pressurised, the difference between the proper Pierburg one and the Ridex was palpable. I wouldn’t entertain any other clutches than LuK, Sachs or Valeo. 
 

Reason the garage won’t want to know is that the customer is supplying a crap clutch which may/may not be correct and ultimately when it’s craps out in a month affects their reputation. 

[beko1987]

Is it more cost effective to buy an aftermarket/off-road OMGOLLI kit for it? If such things exist? 

For no real cost saving over having someone who hopefully knows what their doing fit it and warranty it though, its tough. A clutch has always been my "nope" level so far though so I can't talk! (got one done once on my puma and the car was scrap 16 months later... ) 

[RoverFolkUs]

I know of a Focus 1.8 TDCI where the DMF is so bad you can't see clearly out of the door mirrors.. I'm being deadly serious. It's been going on like it for years. 

It'll probably go on for ages, they quite often do. If you don't want it done immediately then my advice is usually just run it until it gives you clutch troubles. If it fails catastrophically and causes crankshaft and gearbox damage then scrap it and consider it no great loss. If you would consider it a great loss then get it done. 

My man maths would be as follows: 

How much does it owe me? How much will it scrap for? If I spend £1500, will I see any of it back? Or am I already at a loss? 

If a fresh DMF would put a bit more value into it then maybe put some cash aside to do it, if let's say you bought it for 2 grand and you've already spent a grand on it, and it's only ever going to be worth 2 grand, then  run it into the ground. Might still have years left in it. But do not sink another £1500 into it, you'd be better putting it towards something else. 

I wouldn't put a SMF in an x-trail or any sort of vehicle like that. A golf, focus or astra maybe, but not a 4x4

What year and what engine actually is it? If it's one of the liability ones then "just fucking scrap it m8"

[Wack]

1 hour ago, artdjones said:

I'd only use LuK, Sachs, Exedy, or Valeo.

That's what they've quoted for, half the job is labour and that's at £50 an hour plus vat which is really cheap, a lot of garages would be charging £1000+ vat for 10 hours labour 

I've no intention of trying to source cheaper parts, it's drive it until it breaks then decide whether I fix it or they supply parts and fix it 

I really like the car, it fits exactly what I need at the moment, I only paid £800 for it so even at £2300 with a new clutch it's not a disaster 

If you can do the job yourself then it makes sense to buy the parts, maybe not ridex though 😂

[Bren]

How old is the car? Mileage?

[Gaffer]

Any vehicle I’ve had through my hands with a solid flywheel conversion has always been left with some fuck awful trait after the conversion whether it be vibrations or noises/rattles or the clutch becoming like an on off switch. I’m sure there are vehicles you can get away with it on but in my experience just don’t bother.

[Rustybullethole]

Have a mate who needs an engine if it goes that way. Dunno what year model yours is and obviously hope you can do a fix as sounds a goodun apart from the clutch. 

[rainagain]

The dmf in my 307 2.0 HDi used to rattle, but there was no vibration then one day whilst booting it up a hill it ended itself. I fitted a second hand smf conversion kit I got off eBay and it was fine until a numpty crashed their pickup into it. That engine was fitted with a smf in some models so I didn’t mind fitting one.
 

I’ve heard of people pumping a knackered dmf with bathroom silicon as apparently this gives it some springiness without rattling or locking it solid. I’m sure I saw one guy one YouTube do this by removing the inspection plate so they didn’t even have to remove the dmf. Not something I’d recommend but maybe worth a ‘it won’t hurt try’ if it gets so bad you can’t live with it and were planning on replacing it/scrapping the car. 
 

One day I started my Saab and noticed I had more vibration at idle and then noticeably increased vibration at around ~1100 rpm. Luckily you don’t tend to drive at those revs normally so you don’t notice it. I don’t think it’s worth the £500-700 I’ll need for a new dmf and clutch so once it gets un-drivable it will be the end sadly. 

[artdjones]

4 hours ago, Wack said:

That's what they've quoted for, half the job is labour and that's at £50 an hour plus vat which is really cheap, a lot of garages would be charging £1000+ vat for 10 hours labour 

I've no intention of trying to source cheaper parts, it's drive it until it breaks then decide whether I fix it or they supply parts and fix it 

I really like the car, it fits exactly what I need at the moment, I only paid £800 for it so even at £2300 with a new clutch it's not a disaster 

If you can do the job yourself then it makes sense to buy the parts, maybe not ridex though 😂

Autodoc are doing the LuK kit for €695 on the app today, so around £600.

[twosmoke300]

They are a miserable job on rusty old x trails . So many rusted fasteners 

[Wack]

13 hours ago, artdjones said:

Autodoc are doing the LuK kit for €695 on the app today, so around £600.

This is all that comes up on the x trail, at that money I'd just let them supply the parts 

 

[scaryoldcortina]

13 hours ago, twosmoke300 said:

They are a miserable job on rusty old x trails . So many rusted fasteners 

Rusty and siezed, rounded or snapped.

 

[SiC]

14 minutes ago, scaryoldcortina said:

Rusty and siezed, rounded or snapped.

 

Good to see you back SOC!

[Wack]

16 hours ago, Rustybullethole said:

Have a mate who needs an engine if it goes that way. Dunno what year model yours is and obviously hope you can do a fix as sounds a goodun apart from the clutch. 

It is, the car is a good one T31 2.0 diesel 4x4 

I'm going to leave it to see how bad it gets before I spend £1500 on it 

[Wack]

Just driving the x trail  when I saw smoke with the smell of burning rubber

As I was slowing down I saw a circular piece of metal fly off into the bushes followed by a loud clattering coming from the AC/ alternator area 

This clattering isn't there then it is, coming from the alt AC area 

Belt is still on so I'll see if I can nurse it to the garage tomorrow 

What a pain in the arse 

 

[Wack]

Just got the call from the garage, new alternator, pulleys, belt and a handbrake cable which had snapped

£776.40 

That's as much as I paid for the car 😂

The good news is I'll be keeping it whatever, the DMF clatter has stopped and even if it does  need a new clutch at £1400 I'll only have £3k in it with new clutch and alternator