O/T Dual Mass Flywheel Conversion

[Graham King]

Folks, I run an old (2000) Skoda Octavia 1.9 Diesel Estate that we use for the dogs and general running around, to cut a long story short I am told it requires a new clutch and DMF, this is expensive (approx £750 all done, the DMF and Clutch is £450-500) and probably almost as much as the car is worth.

 

I notice Eurocarparts market a solid flywheel conversion kit for £150 that would obviously save me a significant sum of money. I spoke to the garage that made the original diagnosis and they are more than happy to fit the kit but said they can't warranty the work as they have heard of situations where this has caused the crankshaft to break.

 

Does anyone have any experience of this type of conversion?

 

Thanks.

 

Graham.

[oilyhands]

I have heard it is primarily an NVH and gearbox rollover noise reducer. I haven't heard of any failures.

 

Oily

[SLR No.77]

We have a company Mercedes Vito van ... DMF broke up at 40,000 miles and it was replaced with a solid one. The gearbox then gave up at 60,000 miles.

Related? Maybe, maybe not.

 

Stu.

[Klunk]

My 98 passat 1.9tdi has 110bhp, a solid flywheel set up, and has completed 258,000 miles on the same flywheel/clutch.

 

My 06 Touran 1.9tdi has 105bhp, a DMF set up and has already been through one at 60,000miles (thank God for the warranty!) and the second one doesn't feel great at 115,000miles.

 

Guess what's going on next time!

 

As far as I'm aware, the bottom end is exactly the same so can't see why there would be a problem as the internals are seriously strong. The solid flywheel conversion is routine for taxi drivers with this engine.

 

Regards,

Giles

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by - Klunk on 4 Mar 2014 17:46:15

[B1THN]

Only downside is loss of low down torque and slightly more vibration. Went down this road on my vw to date no problems .

[LesG]

DMF's are fantastic at doing what they were designed to do; give nice, smooth gearchanges. They were not designed for start/stop, neutral/first gear/second gear/ neutral again, tickover, tickover, tickover, city traffic. That's why taxis convert to solid flywheels; they're always sat ticking over and it's this that literally shakes DMF's to pieces.

 

To answer your original question; yes, go for the soild conversion, what can you lose on a car only worth around £750? If it's doing everything else that you need, then why not? I would

[ChrisC]

DMFs tend to fail long before they are changed. Normally you can notice the rot on a cold morning for the first two or three pull aways, where a smooth judder free take off is impossible. I have a BMW F20 2012 125i which the signs of a failed DMF failure at 7K miles, just can't prove it yet. The Judder is transmitted into the gearbox and kills that if left (which most people do)

 

Snapping the crank sounds a bit far fetched, but who knows.

 

 

Edited by - ChrisC on 4 Mar 2014 21:00:25

[Graham King]

Thanks for the responses folks, seems like generally good experiences so I think I'll give it a go, as was commented got nothing to lose really.

 

Graham