Technical Duel Mass Flywheel Failed

[Benny]

The DMF failed, with a loud bang, and the accompany of what can only be described as 50p in a tumble dryer. According to garage "its bad" the DMF has come apart and damaged input shaft on the gearbox which may need replacement. All this done pulling out of drive in 1st gear at no more than 5 mph.
The car is 08 150Mjet sport with 32000 miles on it and is still under warranty, just, the worry is Fiat are sending an engineer to assess damage they must not trust garage, or given potential cost it the work needs to be cleared.

 

[Ffoxy]

Thats bad luck, no sign previously of any miss-fire or vibration before the DMF died by any chance? From what I have read a DMF is more likely to fail when a miss-fire or vibration goes on ignored...

Anyhow, assuming the DMF died due to faulty manufacture I hope the engineer calls it in your favour on such a young car.

 

[Omad]

An engineer has to be sent out due to the car being in third year warranty ( dealer warranty ) not like the first two being with fiat direct.

Any third year warranty job of this size requires a visit its standard territory and does not reflect on the dealers ability.

Its a bit of a worry though that DMF has caused this much damage. i do hope you dont have signs of engine upgrades present!

And i hope you get it all sorted and soon! nothing worse than being without your wheels!!

 

[bravo jtdM150]

yep i had a whole new gearbox on my 150 sport, took a while as the box wasnt avaliable in the UK. whilst everything is out, which i would expect is covered under warranty, get your clutch kit changed, i paid £180, thats just the parts.
My 3rd gear syncho failed, instead of repairing they replaced, as these gearboxes are kinda tampter proof.
My flywheel juddered after my remap, at the time i had a tuning box, but it didnt affect anything. I had worked at fiat before, so i guess that why
Bravo is now sold, but in 35k no problems, except the gearbox, which i demolished

good luck with yours.

 

[Kelvin W]

The DMF failed, with a loud bang, and the accompany of what can only be described as 50p in a tumble dryer. According to garage "its bad" the DMF has come apart and damaged input shaft on the gearbox which may need replacement. All this done pulling out of drive in 1st gear at no more than 5 mph.
The car is 08 150Mjet sport with 32000 miles on it and is still under warranty, just, the worry is Fiat are sending an engineer to assess damage they must not trust garage, or given potential cost it the work needs to be cleared.

Had mine replaced in the 3rd year warranty Benny and the engineer inspected it before agreeing to the replacement.
They just charged me for a new clutch kit,hope that settles your mind a bit bud

Regards Kelvin

 

[Benny]

Thanks for that. There was no evidence of any vibration, or lumpy running. In retrospect the day before it bogged down at a roundabout when pulling away but didn't think anything of it at the time. The car is totally stock never been messed with, you do that after 3rd year warranty expires, for this very reason.
Benny

 

[Big Black Stilo]

probably a silly question... do the T-Jets use DMF?

 

[Andysan]

Sorry to hear about another DMF problem - this seems to be a bit of an Achilles Foot for the Bravo. I only noticed mine when I had a replacement windscreen fitted incorrectly and it became audible within the cabin.

Hope it gets sorted.

 

[RobW]

they do fail and it is not a Fiat design issue, other makes also have them

 

[Andysan]

they do fail and it is not a Fiat design issue, other makes also have them

Oh yes, completely agree mate. DMF's are always going to fail on modern turbo diesels, I just wonder if this problem is particularly prominent on the Bravo as so many of us have had problems.

From what I understand DMF's are more prone to failure than SMF's and only offer a very small amount of refinement - seems like another development for diesel cars that increases the attractiveness of the package very slightly at the expense of a considerable level of reliability.

 

[Big Black Stilo]

Oh yes, completely agree mate. DMF's are always going to fail on modern turbo diesels, I just wonder if this problem is particularly prominent on the Bravo as so many of us have had problems.

From what I understand DMF's are more prone to failure than SMF's and only offer a very small amount of refinement - seems like another development for diesel cars that increases the attractiveness of the package very slightly at the expense of a considerable level of reliability.

Arent DMFs supposed to make the diesel motor less tractor like? i have a 306HDi that should have shook itself to bits by now!

a quick google shows VWs are bad for DMF as well

 

[Andysan]

Arent DMFs supposed to make the diesel motor less tractor like?

Yeah, but its debatable as to how much difference they do actually make vs the reliability problems.

 

[RobW]

Oh yes, completely agree mate. DMF's are always going to fail on modern turbo diesels, I just wonder if this problem is particularly prominent on the Bravo as so many of us have had problems.

From what I understand DMF's are more prone to failure than SMF's and only offer a very small amount of refinement - seems like another development for diesel cars that increases the attractiveness of the package very slightly at the expense of a considerable level of reliability.

as i have (slightly tongue in cheek) said before, diesels are unrefined and essentially unsuitable for use in cars. they are best suited to run at a constant speed and load, and used to power trains, tractors, generators, ships etc
there is only so much that can be done with injection technology and engine damping to make the 'feel' refined
the noise, the smell :yuck:, the nose heavy handling, tyre wear,
nothing then wheel spinning surge then the feeling of the brakes being applied - type power delivery...

i had a 156 JTD and the crank pulley wheel disintegrated on that at 90k, similar thing to the dmf and £300 to replace

the economy 'lie' that is sold with diesels soon starts to unravel in my experience, and big bills await sooner or later (unit injectors, injector pumps, turbos, dpfs, dmfs...)

lots of reasons to steer clear really, especially now petrols are getting lower emissions and better mpg

 

[hammer32]

the DMF and clutch failed on my Honda Civic 2.2 CTDI,cost £850 for DMF £450 for clutch and £500 labour.

 

[Andysan]

the noise, the smell :yuck:, the nose heavy handling, tyre wear,
nothing then wheel spinning surge then the feeling of the brakes being applied - type power delivery...

the economy 'lie' that is sold with diesels soon starts to unravel in my experience, and big bills await sooner or later (unit injectors, injector pumps, turbos, dpfs, dmfs...)

lots of reasons to steer clear really, especially now petrols are getting lower emissions and better mpg

I beg to differ - whilst I agree regarding the power delivery and the nose heavy handling, diesels are still hugely more economical for my mind. The current Bravo 2.0 MJ Sport 165 gets combined 54mpg compared wth 45mpg for the 1.4 Active 145, despite the petrol being a much smaller (and newer?) engine in a much lighter car. Diesel saves me £2 per day on the trip to work - just on this commute alone thats about £400 per year that I'm saving. The warranty on my car costs £300 so any problems should be fixed for free, plus I have the benefit of any other problems not diesel-specific being fixed for free also.

Saying that, I appreciate that the margins are quite thin, and there is the initial offset of buying a diesel in the first place, plus tyres etc... and the other drawbacks of diesel from a driving pleaseure perspective. If you dont like the smell though dont drink it in the first place.

For my mind the only petrols that come close at the moment are crummy ecobox cars - I'm happy to be proved wrong though. I want a 159 next but cant see any way that the petrol can be economical for 75 miles of driving per day.

 

[Craig010]

I too am a fan of diesel power for a number of reasons. First and foremost is the torque they produce, making driving more relaxed, especially when fully laden, as you dont have to rev them hard. Another thing i like about them is they economy they achieve, vs. the power they produce. With the 2.0 multijet as an example, 165 bhp and 50+ mpg is just not possible by a petrol engine, as far as i know anyways. Hell, my car is a 1.3 petrol, 59 bhp, and still only manages 34 - 37 mpg on average!
Yes, the smell is unpleasent and they are nose heavy, but are no less reliable than petrol engines, and i personally like the power delivery, that 'woooshh' as the turbo kicks in is great!

Thats my oppinion anyways

 

[Craig010]

I too am a fan of diesel power for a number of reasons. First and foremost is the torque they produce, making driving more relaxed, especially when fully laden, as you dont have to rev them hard. Another thing i like about them is the economy they achieve, vs. the power they produce. With the 2.0 multijet as an example, 165 bhp and 50+ mpg is just not possible by a petrol engine, as far as i know anyways. Hell, my car is a 1.3 petrol, 59 bhp, and still only manages 34 - 37 mpg on average!
Yes, the smell is unpleasent and they are nose heavy, but are no less reliable than petrol engines, and i personally like the power delivery, that 'woooshh' as the turbo kicks in is great!

Thats my oppinion anyways

 

[Benny]

Just got the news all work to be completed gratis. No payment required, not even for new clutch that was also damaged in the disintegration of the flywheel. It took a week and visits from 2 fiat tech guys before the garage given go ahead. Alls well that ends well, I had visions of a red 10 grand planter in the drive.

Ben

 

[RobW]

Just got the news all work to be completed gratis. No payment required, not even for new clutch that was also damaged in the disintegration of the flywheel. It took a week and visits from 2 fiat tech guys before the garage given go ahead. Alls well that ends well, I had visions of a red 10 grand planter in the drive.

Ben

good stuff

 

[Kelvin W]

Just got the news all work to be completed gratis. No payment required, not even for new clutch that was also damaged in the disintegration of the flywheel. It took a week and visits from 2 fiat tech guys before the garage given go ahead. Alls well that ends well, I had visions of a red 10 grand planter in the drive.

Ben

Sound Ben told you not to panic

Best Regards Kelvin