Dreaded Dmf

[augur33]

Me and the missus got Rav4s last year after an absolute nightmare with Fords, we thought we'd pay the extra for a premium product.

Punted around to get a couple of low milage post august 02 models to avoid the dreaded DMF problem.

Well Saturday morning my 5door 47k 52 plate decided to trash itself 3 months and 20 days after buying it!!!!

After todays discusion with my local dealership regarding cost, £1700 for dmf & clutch or £2300 for dmf, clutch, ecu, piece of wireing loom and some bolts to hopefully stop the new dmf trashing itself! I have decided to go for a solid flywheel conversion and getting my local indie to do the job, and was wondering if anyone has some advice or expeiences they may be able to offer.

Fingers crossed that the wife's 3door behaves itself or we'll have to sell the house to keep them both on the road, so much for Toyota reliability!!!!!

At least the new gearbox on the Ford only cost £825 fitted!

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[dave.m]

Oh dear, sad to hear that, a few members seem to be taking the solid flywheel route. Anyway's as its your first post

welcome to the club anyway, just a pity its not a post about something happier :( Keep your chin up and remember

the most often quoted saying on the Land Rover forum - "if its got t^ts or tyres it will cost you money"

[Ravmania]

Yeah sad to hear that. I think the August 02 date when they first began to add the 'new' dmf was the manufacture date though so as far as I know plenty of 52 plates and possibly even some 03 plates could have the faulty dmf fitted.

Let us know how you get on.

[chatman]

Yeah sad to hear that. I think the August 02 date when they first began to add the 'new' dmf was the manufacture date though so as far as I know plenty of 52 plates and possibly even some 03 plates could have the faulty dmf fitted.

Let us know how you get on.

Mine was a 52 plate Sept reg one... and had this happen around 71k......( got a few more miles now....100k+ so still going strong)

[rambler]

hi folks

well mines covered 86'000 now,and i may be in for a shock shortly,as thurs it may be diagnosed :o

its really annoying yes,but apart from wearing out brakes twice over now,and two new batteries in 4 1/2 yrs,its never actually stopped and mechanically broke down..yet

and ive covered 53'000 of those miles myself,been a constant reliable and trusty companion,thats travelled all over this country.

having said all that.....that could be about to change :censor: :(

[augur33]

UPDATE

I got a smf kit off eBay for £309 delivered and got a local indie to fit costing £446. Total cost £755.

A bit cheaper than Mr T's £1700 or £2300.

I just didn't want to have all that expense and have another dmf fail in 2-3 years!

Really love the Rav so wanted to go for (hopefully) a more bulletproof solution than fitting a component that has already failed once and therefore is likely to fail again.

Looking at all the info available it seems that the failiure rate is around 25% so i'm hoping the wife's falls into the 75% of gooduns!! Hers has 35k on clock 52 plate.

Will update if any problems arise.

Thanks for everyones input.

[Toyopia]

I have the same problem, but I have owned my 2003 RAV with genuine 40K miles for only 2 weeks when the DMF decided to give up the ghost - no sign of any problems on a lengthy test drive it ran as sweet as a nut then all of a sudden started to get a noise when the clutch was depressed.

After being quoted by Toyota £1700 fitted for a replacement DMF and clutch I have now decided to go the solid flywheel route supplied and fitted for £800 I looked at the eBay kits but was advised that with one of these I could have saved a few quid and the clutch kit would have a warranty but the fitting wouldn`t as I would have supplied the kit.

ie. if the clutch assembly packed up then OK that would be replaced under the warranty but I would have to pay the labour charge again so I decided to have it all supplied and fitted so it was all covered by warranty.

When I enquired about the eBay kits the sellers seemed a little coy about exactly what their kits consisted of and I got the impression that the kits were cobbled together with parts from other cars eg an Avensis flywheel was used in one.

Hopefully the solid flywheel route will last a little longer than 40K miles.

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Del.

[chatman]

User HEMI has fitted many SMF to cars and swears by them...... not seen him on here for a while (maybe he's really busy with all these dmf failures :unsure: )

[Toyopia]

I read the posts by Hemi and his recommendation that you fit a Blueprint solid clutch kit but Blueprint have withdrawn their RAV 4 kit as Toyota do not recommend to use a solid fly wheel kit to the RAV 4 because of possible damage to the 4 wheel drive system principally the viscous couplings.

What a nightmare, a knackered DMF so fit a new one and it may/may not last, or fit a solid flywheel and it may/may not affect the 4 wheel drive system.

Anybody got any answers?

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Del.

[MarsKy]

I missed this: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/caradv...eel-appeal.html

Did anyone find out what the last ECU update actually did?

Incidentally:

One of the posters discusses a Toyota recall. Don't know where he got his info.

[MarsKy]

And a bit more animated info:

[anchorman]

And a bit more animated info:

That's one of the best I've seen.

[Parts-King]

My only worry is that if you fit a solid flywheel, what are you letting yourself in for long term? With the huge amounts of torque produced on modern diesel engines, if something does give way, it is likely to give way "big time" dwarfing the cost of a DMF replacement. DMF's are put in for a reason, explained very well in the clip!

Kingo

[shcm]

I've seen an analysis report from a component supplier where they admit to getting the design calculation initially wrong for the max stress on the DMF springs. The actual was something like 30% higher than calculated, with the effect of reducing DMF life. At least they know now where they went wrong.

Just my tupence worth, but I'd want to understand (i.e. have calcs for) all the forces, resonances etc in a system, before substituting one major component originally design in, for one of a different type.

[anchorman]

Well said. Me too.