V50 General : 2005 55 V50 125k miles Clutch & DMF...

[Boris]

Hi

I love my V50 despite a few probs - before it I had 2 new focus estates and the V50 was way nicer to drive - and a few weeks ago I had a focus hatchback hire car which just reminded me how much better the V50 is!

The V50 has just had it's 125k mile service and it looks like the rear main oil seal is leaking.

Apparently to get this done the gear box etc needs to come out (£500+ dealer and £250-£300 indi). The independent guy also mentioned that given the high mileage it may be a good idea to renew the clutch and dual mass flywheel at the same time (£250 and £500 respectively for parts but no extra labour on top of the oil seal replacement).

Does anyone have any experience or opinions on this? The clutch seems sensible but I'm not sure about the DMF.....

Cheers

Simon

[mick6177]

Ive had a Focus in which i had to replace the DMF and clutch (£1200 from a fraud dealer)and it depends on the symptoms/signs your getting if any, if a DMF is about to fail it will give you a clatter on start up and a even louder clatter from a hot start this can be accompanyed with clutch pedal vibration, it is true that there would hardly be any additional work once the gearbox is off, I would try and source the items cheaper yourself (which you can on Ebay and the like) and get him to fit them. and if you do you may get another 125k out of her

[Guru]

Hi,

This thread may be of interest to you Boris -->LINK<--

[grass hopper]

changed many flywheels and clutches that failed at only 30k.

125k on the originals is amazing,so its a definite yes replace while stripped.

[Marmoset]

Still on my original DMF & clutch at 120k Grasshopper, so I hope it's not about to go on me!

Been getting something akin to turbo lag, although halfwway through boost coming on, could this be the early signs of failure? Feels like the engine is being 'throttled' but not like a flat spot in teh rev range.

[grass hopper]

Originally Posted by Marmoset

Still on my original DMF & clutch at 120k Grasshopper, so I hope it's not about to go on me!

Been getting something akin to turbo lag, although halfwway through boost coming on, could this be the early signs of failure? Feels like the engine is being 'throttled' but not like a flat spot in teh rev range.

no,if the clutch is failing it will cause high revs without forward movement especially in higher gears and wide open throttle,if the flywheel was failing then there could be vibration and rattles especially when starting and on idle,also occasionally if the fluid has leaked out of the flywheel it can cause a medium speed/engine speed vibration,feels like a miss fire as i think has previously been mentioned.

we used to have at least one car in a month at very low mileages with failure on the clutch and flywheel,i guess these have been upgraded.

[Guru]

Originally Posted by grass hopper

if the flywheel was failing then there could be vibration and rattles especially when starting and on idle

And those vibrations and rattles go away after pressing the clutch? only to come back immediately after releasing it?

Originally Posted by grass hopper

we used to have at least one car in a month at very low mileages with failure on the clutch and flywheel,i guess these have been upgraded.

It's not only a design issue that causes premature failures of these components, I've seen many people quickly reaching 5th or 6th gear only to continue driving at 1100 rpm thinking that the lower the engine rpm the higher the fuel economy, false economy! little do they know that the DMF is oscillating violently during such driving, which will cause it to fail prematurely.

[grass hopper]

yes the vibration/rattle can go away when pressing the clutch as you are applying force against the flywheel which limits the movement.

[Boris]

Thanks for all the advice and the link to cheaper parts - I'll let you know how I get on....

[Boris]

Thought it was time I let you all knew how I got on....

I decided to use volvo parts but when they arrived I had a look in the nice Volvo branded boxes and discovered a Sachs clutch kit and a Sachs DMF! I then discovered that car manufacturers don't generally make a lot of their parts, instead using Sachs or LUKs parts.

I called my garage and he said he could get the parts from his supplier so I sent them back for a refund (which was kindly given). He did say that he'd had trouble with non-volvo control cylinders (aka hydraulic release bearings) so I kept that bit.

So work now all done - relative costs below.... (excl VAT) (and I got the "volvo" parts from Simon in Cardiff who does good deals for members of this forum.)

clutch kit - Volvo £182.80 - Mine £126.00
DMF - Volvo £369.75 - Mine £265.00

So total saving was £190 inc VAT - the price volvo charge for 2 cardboard boxes with a volvo logo on them!

If anyone is interested I wrote all the numbers etc on the Volvo parts down - I've no idea what the numbers mean but they may help someone find the correct part - although the garage I used didn't seem to have any trouble.

Hope this helps.