Clutch disintegrates at 12700 miles

[100ps_drw_hicube]

well this just proves the build quality has gone down hill last year my van was way overloaded with building materials and on top of that a 2 ton trailer full of earth and i drove it thru town along a roads thru more towns reversed it into our drive etc and i didnt kill my clutch and im very rev happy so all this makes me want to stay with the mk5

[Valsheda]

I tend to agree with what you say mate , despite there being a hell of alot of Mk6 on the road they cant all have these problems , but when they do go wrong its very very expensive to put right or fisty cuffs at dawn with fords to get it done under warrenty , as much as i like the MK6 i dont think that i will be chopping my smiley in for one , i dont think my bank balance could cope with it , or am i just being paranoid

[FredTransit]

IMO I have to say that it seems that all new vans of whatever make and model seem to be aimed at the large company or fleet buyer, who are happy to throw money at the Ford dealers or have thier own servicing facilities. When they get moved on to the used market or get to be middle aged (possibly!) they will be so expensive to repair nobody will look at them. If a van got to be worth £1000-2000, and say needs £1000 worth of clutch and flywheel repair, why would you hang on to it? And that's leaving apart the failure of microchips and other electronics such as engine sensors. It's at times like these I wonder if there will ever be widely available classic vans, vans sold today may not reach 20 years old. Whilst this might not seem like a national disaster, ther IS a market for cheap second hand vans as not everybody can afford a new one (as much as the main dealers would prefer it). Ordinary working self and employed people can't all go out and but new, even on finance.

[bondy]

hi fred, i know wot your saying, but i wouldnt worry too much about it. i bet people were saying the same thing about the brand new transit mk 3 20 years ago . thing is, if the van goes tilt, there is always people out there, like us or private garages for instance who have the ability and determination to keep them going with second hand or pattern bits, etc. it dont take too long before spares firms start making pattern parts. i have got a bmw 520i which ive had for 9 years. the best place to source spares is euro car parts. the bits are made by the same company that supply bmw except they aint got the propeller symbol stamped on um. and they are alot cheaper.

[Nighthawk]

I know where your coming from Fred, main dealer costings are always much higher than the independant motor trader because of the massive overheads, once outside the dealer network the costs are much more managable. The £1k figure thats being chucked about is also around double what the cost should actually be

Also as long as there are the IMT's out there and people like myself and the many others on here who are ready to offer help and advice for free, things aren't that bad.

[mad andy]

well...it cost me £710 inc vat with a 10% discount..had a solid chat with the ford guys...i was right..they do believe that there must have been something wrong.but they are unable to say so..they have to tow the ford line..

so taking this up with the small buisness federation and the aa.

cheers for all your help


mad andy

[Nighthawk]

Andy, I don't wish to play devil's advocate here, but the inside line is they couldn't really have thought there was much wrong on a manufacturing basis.

Dealers are self regulating with regards to warranty, FMC rely on their judgement at the sharp end to determine the cause of the fault.
If they submit a claim and the parts are requested to be returned to parts recall centre and then deemed to be a non warrantable defect they get charged back and the bill is then passed to the customer. That process might take upto 3 months to process.

Some dealers are required to gain prior approval on certain parts, whereby they contact FMC and discuss the failure and then fmc will authorise a repair action. last time I checked the matrix the clutch wasn't an affected part.

Best of luck with it,

[MrMPuk]

Diplomatic as ever Nighthawk!

[FredTransit]

hi fred, i know wot your saying, but i wouldnt worry too much about it. i bet people were saying the same thing about the brand new transit mk 3 20 years ago . thing is, if the van goes tilt, there is always people out there, like us or private garages for instance who have the ability and determination to keep them going with second hand or pattern bits, etc. it dont take too long before spares firms start making pattern parts. i have got a bmw 520i which ive had for 9 years. the best place to source spares is euro car parts. the bits are made by the same company that supply bmw except they aint got the propeller symbol stamped on um. and they are alot cheaper.

The thing is, I don't think that people had a thought about the next 20 years in 1986 when the M3 came out. I know I didn't, otherwise I would have waxoiled the chassis of out luton!! Things have changed now, and people are more aware of classics and classic potential. On that note, when was it you last saw a C or D reg Mk3? For me I think it was around a montha ago. My theory being there was a lot more money around in the 80s, and people only wanted the latest thing, so got rid of their slightly shop soiled vans in favour of a new one. There is a lot less money washing around today, don't let the government fool you into thinking we are in a boom period! So, faced with a very big bill owners of middle aged transits might get rid rather than spend half of the van't value down the garage. For this reason, I do think that less and less vans will get to be 20 or over. Not everyboduy thinks like me.....

[bondy]

in some ways, when we get new motors. we always think, oh yeah, i will wax oil that up soon. trouble is weve always got something more important to do. i used to work on aircraft. all aeroplanes are oiled inside to stop the dreaded corrosion starting. i could of laid me hands on gallons of astrolan or lps 3, but could never be arsed. we only start to think about the classic status when there getting to that age.

this thread is digressing from the clutch problem

[FredTransit]

this thread is digressing from the clutch problem

Good point, fair enough. It is however relevant that it's already been said that build quality is slipping, which I agree with.

[Nighthawk]

Diplomatic as ever Nighthawk!

I tell it like it is though, having spent time at the sharp end it's not a nice place to be.

[Terry]

I tend to see Nighthawks point.
Many moons ago I worked for a guy, who's wife used to 'ride the clutch'.
No matter what car it was the Escort, his Aston, her Capri 10,000 miles new clutch !
Who's to say this 'working' vehicle hasn't had one (of many) drivers like that, added to the fact if they are using a trailer regularly it must give
the clutch hell 'reversing uphill with the trailer on' I have done it
and the van didn't like it one bit !

[john leeman]

WE ONLY HAVE 1 MK 6, THIS CLUTCH THING ONLY WORRIES ME EVEN MORE & MORE. MY FRIEND AT ARE LOCAL FORD DEALERS TOLD ME OF CHASSIS CABS DIFF RATIO IS IMPORTANT TO SPESIFY WHAT JOB THEY ARE GOING TO DO WHEN YOU ORDER YOUR VEHICLE, I KNOW IF YOU ARE TOWING TRAILERS WELL LOADED ETC, YOU NEED AN AXLE RATIO OF MAY BE 5.86 TO 1, TO STOP OR HELP THE CLUTCH FROM TEARING ITS SELF TO BITS. I HAVE BEING TOLD OF TWO CLUTCH PREMATURE FAILURS AND FORD CHANGE THE GEARING IN THE BACK AXLE UNDER WARRANTY, NIGHTHAWK MAY KNOW SOMETHING OF THIS. GOOD LUCK LADS.

[Nighthawk]

John
your friend is partly correct

When the transit was launched it had bigger gear ratio's for 1st and reverse and we were suffering lots of repeated failures of the dual mass flywheel and the clutch. A TSB was issued detailing a procedure that would allow the replacement of the rear axle with one that had a different ratio. That ratio change reduced fuel economy by a large margin and raised the revs up at motorway speeds.

The TSB also only covered a limited build range.

Only the warranty and policy department at FMC could authorise the replacement and only after they had had a FULL history of the useage and clutch replacement, more often than not the case was rejected.

Your friend is also correct in stating that the correct vehicle for the job should have been spec'd from the off. Some sales people just see the profit though and often just sell a unit on the stock sheet. The option to have the 5.88 diff is what your m8 was refering to.