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Technical TwinAir Trekking engine more lumpy than normal

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Technical TwinAir Trekking engine more lumpy than normal

Hi.
There is another reason for DMFs. This is one I found out when a Rover 75 owner. The BMW diesel unit had a DMF and some had fitted solid flywheels. The result in a few cases were broken crankshafts. One guy I remember said that the cranks couldn't take the vibration from the normal set up when pulling away and the DMF damped them reducing stresses on the crank.

Sounds logical then having one on a higher output TA.
 
lunchbeers said:
Don't these knacker the bellhousing too, given the low tolerances
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This has been reported here on a number of occasions. Probably not a good idea to ignore the symptoms.

murphyv310 said:
at least £100 an hour. To me that's a rip off.
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I'd agree, but most franchised dealers of all marques charge at least that.

I also don't see this taking as long as 10 hours for an experienced mechanic with full main dealer service facilities and tools.

DMF's are a wear & tear item and on many cars are routinely replaced along with the clutch, but you'd reasonably expect to see at least 100k miles out of both. What's concerning to me is the relatively low mileages at which these are failing on Fiats; some of the cases reported here haven't even done a third of that mileage. This, when taken alongside all the uniair failures (another four figure job if done by a franchised dealer), is why I can't recommend buying a secondhand TA; IMO these are cars best bought new and traded away before the warranty runs out*.


*That said, I wouldn't want to bet on Fiat replacing a DMF under warranty, especially in the thitd year.
 
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Liteboy said:
So the verdict is DMF and clutch plus light internal wear. Looking at £1500 to £2000 but as my wife says it's a lot cheaper than a new car and is a guaranteed repair. They are going to do a major service at the same time saving me a job ?
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Ouch, almost worth the recovery costs to Royston! That's bad luck, my DMF/clutch replacement was in the order of £700 but at a specialist. If you are stuck with the dealer then I guess those prices are not too surprising given they will charging top dollar for the spares too. As you say guaranteed too (in so far as anyone will guarantee a clutch assembly. Bad luck.
 
Panda IIs said:
Ouch, almost worth the recovery costs to Royston! That's bad luck, my DMF/clutch replacement was in the order of £700 but at a specialist. If you are stuck with the dealer then I guess those prices are not too surprising given they will charging top dollar for the spares too. As you say guaranteed too (in so far as anyone will guarantee a clutch assembly. Bad luck.
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Yep unfortunately stuck with main dealer pricing, the cost may be less as they quoted worse case scenario. We are not sure how long it has been failing but it got worse over 5 days very quickly. Reading up on DMF failures in general one of the reasons they fail is driving in too higher gear at slow speed and not changing down to accelerate, my wife tends to ignore the change up icon as it always wants you to change up too soon but we have no idea how previous owners drove it. It will be interesting to see if they have altered the DMF construction since our Panda was produced. Luckily we have money put by for things like this and ideally we would have not used the main dealer but that's how it goes sometimes.
 
I'm led to believe that these dmfs don't fail in the typical way, I've seen the centre bearing has failed, apparently as it's plastic, which then allows for some slop which causes the bellhousing damage.

Again, apparently later parts have solved this issue by using a metal bearing.

Normally, as Liteboy says above its from loading the engine in too low a gear, perhaps as the TA has produces it's peak torque so low in the rev band then might be why it's more susceptible.
 
jrkitching said:
This has been reported here on a number of occasions. Probably not a good idea to ignore the symptoms.



I'd agree, but most franchised dealers of all marques charge at least that.

I also don't see this taking as long as 10 hours for an experienced mechanic with full main dealer service facilities and tools.

DMF's are a wear & tear item and on many cars are routinely replaced along with the clutch, but you'd reasonably expect to see at least 100k miles out of both. What's concerning to me is the relatively low mileages at which these are failing on Fiats; some of the cases reported here haven't even done a third of that mileage. This, when taken alongside all the uniair failures (another four figure job if done by a franchised dealer), is why I can't recommend buying a secondhand TA; IMO these are cars best bought new and traded away before the warranty runs out*.


*That said, I wouldn't want to bet on Fiat replacing a DMF under warranty, especially in the thitd year.
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One reason I will stick with my 1.2 Fire, proven reliability and a solid flywheel.
It's also quick enough for me and economic to run.
 
I wonder if the DMF could be converted back to a SMF on those with failures.

Snapped cranks are pretty rare and can be a symptom of other things, like internal flaws or spun bearings, I'd have thought a free-reving petrol, especially low friction like the TA wouldn't justify a dmf solely on that basis.

I looked at a pretty rough 32k miler 4X4 which had had a new clutch, dmf and gearbox apparently, so it seems that it's not uncommon for it to knacker more than just the dmf
 
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Seamaster said:
A heart transplant takes less time than that.
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Absolutely.
I'd be starting to question any more than 6 hours.
An independent would be the best and cheapest option. It angers me the way, plumbers, electricians and franchised dealers charge. Like the Gordon Highlanders!!!
I gave up my Radio and TV servicing business as folks wouldn't pay £30 for a completed repair including parts.
 
Got the car back today and it feels so much better. The parts Inc a new clutch plate came to £820 and labour £920 and I know its expensive but options were limited. Has a 2 year warranty and my wife feels happier and safer driving.

I have the parts they stripped off and the centre bearing in the flywheel had seized and collapsed. As others have said its a nylon bearing housing and the new one is metal.
 
lunchbeers said:
Glad to hear it's all good, hopefully the revised part means it shouldn't fail in that manner again.

If you're happy to and have the means, could you upload some pictures?
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As you can see the whole bearing has collapsed and it is seized solid. It's a fair old chunk of metal too.
Just took it for a spin myself and the car is transformed the clutch is light and has much better feel.
 

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