Tell me more ×
Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for mechanics and DIY enthusiast owners of cars, trucks, and motorcycles. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 1 down vote favorite

I am looking for ways to improve the life of the dual mass flywheel (DMF) in my 2005 ford focus tdci. I have heard that they can wear out quite quickly on the ford focus if they are driven in city conditions alot, i.e. running on low revs & lots of stop start driving.

Like a lot of people I spend 15 minutes sitting still in traffic most days, so I am trying to think of ways to improve my driving style to reduce the wear on the DMF.

  1. I understand that at low revs a diesel engine puts a lot of strain on the DMF because it is running less smooth, however is there much wear on the DMF when you are sitting idle in neutral in traffic? Surely there wouldnt be much strain on the engine, so not much strain on the DMF also?

  2. When your running at low speeds in traffic and the revs are down around 1000rpm and the engine seems to be under strain and so could be straining the DMF. would it be better to drive faster at say 1500 rpm and then coast in neutral and then go back to 1500rpm when your slowing down. Or to just stay driving consistently at 1000rpm?

I suppose it just goes to show that diesels arent meant for city driving!

share|improve this question

2 Answers

up vote 0 down vote accepted

Reading around a bit on the dual mass clutch the friction plate between the two masses is the component that will often wear out as it is designed to keep from too much torque being sent through to the transmission, taking the hit itself instead (choice between burning up a couple hundred dollar flywheel or a transmission in the thousands of dollars).

Sitting idle in neutral, you are not putting the system under load and so that should not be creating wear.

Any time you press and then release the clutch pedal, you are disengaging the clutch disc from the flywheel and then re-engaging it. This causes wear on the clutch disc and flywheel.

The time you are going to put the most strain on the friction plate is during acceleration (that is when the most force is exerted onto the drivetrain) so I would suggest keeping a steady speed over speeding up, coasting, speeding up, coasting.

share|improve this answer
I'll try my best to lengthen the life of the DMF by driving as you mentioned and maybe avoiding traffic. Oren Mazors solution to use a single mass flywheel sounds good, but would probably not be a safe solution for the transmission for most cars? – snowstreams Jul 25 '11 at 10:23
up vote 0 down vote

I can't offer you an opportunity to improve your DMF's lifecycle, but to be honest, do you want to? I had a 2003 tdi jetta that had one, and replacing it with a single mass flywheel improved performance quite a bit (and reduced the noise from the work out DMF).

it's also expensive to replace, so if you have to, don't get a new DMF.

share|improve this answer
Getting a normal single mass flywheel sounds like a good idea, but as ManiacZX says below, the single mass flywheel mightn't be good enough to reduce the strain on the transmission and hence cause damage to the more costly transmission. I suppose it does all depend on the make and age of the car too. – snowstreams Jul 25 '11 at 10:02
I did it on a 2002 tdi, and over the course of 4 years have had zero problems. In my opinion (having only owned 4 different standard cars), for the average person's average driving style, you'll be fine. – Oren Mazor Jul 25 '11 at 15:53
Thanks, I might give that a try when ever the DMF does fail. I dont drive the car very hard so it could should out as a reasonable option. – snowstreams Jul 26 '11 at 11:14

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.