Engine Drivetrain 2nd Gen S Most liked posts in thread: Dual Mass Flywheel Hot Spots?

I always use the gear box to slow the car down. Never killed a clutch doing it. I must not be using the correct clutch killing technique. Slipping the clutch kills them.

Hand brake hill assist FTW.

 

Not sure how I missed this discussion when it started, sorry.

The following clutch observations are my own opinions, after replacing at least 40 R56 and over a hundred R53 clutches over the past 7 years. I have taken excerpts from these discussions to make my answers/opinions flow more smoothly (I hope). The dual mass flywheel in an R56 is signifigantly different than an R53, although I hold both in serious contempt as a real POS design. Many manufacturers use dual mass flywheels these days to help idle NVH, but it is a crappy solution from a long term standpoint. I have yet to see anyone’s hold up to heavy stop and go traffic-you don’t have to abuse the car, just use the clutch a lot to wear out the flywheel.

My AAA insurance is covering the labor ($1900) and throwout bearing($?), however no insurance company or even an extended warranty will cover brakes, clutches as they are normal wear and tear items.

WOW-the $1050.00 we charge seems paltry in comparison! I have heard of dealers charging as much as 3500.00 labor for this repair!



What could the previous owner have done to cause the hot spots, hard acceleration or spirited driving?

The reason the flywheel has such bad hot spotting is it was rocking in/out when bolted to the crankshaft. This is nearly impossible to replicate off the car, but we have seen .250 in/out rock (that is ¼ of an inch!) while bolted to the crankshaft. This means when you are trying to move forward from a stop, the disc does not have an even surface to engage against-the spinning flywheel is also rocking slightly and as the disc touches the flywheel machined surface, the “high†spots that touch first see excessive heat, as the pressure plate clamps everything back into the engaged position
I have beat one extended warranty company into replacing a flywheel in this condition, although it took hours of phone calls and photos and an independent inspection to convince them that the (covered) flywheel is what actually killed the clutch.

put my foot on the clutch pedal and holy hell I thought the dealer screwed up the hydraulic system. Pushing in the clutch pedal was so easy I thought something was seriously wrong. I remember it requiring much more force to get the clutch pedal in, my leg would get cramped at a red light, no more.

YEP that is how they are supposed to feel

When I looked at my pressure plate, clutch disk and flywheel all three were super shiny! My clutch disk was worse on the flywheel side, my flywheel had cracked in many places do to the extreme heat. Just have a look! I mean what does one have to do to get a clutch to look like mine?

Just drive the car in heavy traffic for about 40,000 miles-it will kill that pos flywheel every time

I also notice that my old flywheel rocks back and forth in a tick-tock fashion, it definitely looks like it was designed this way but why?


The CIRCULAR rocking is the design to counteract a normal 4 cylinder vibration that occurs naturally when 2 pistons are at BDC and two are at TDC, it cancels a small vibration.

One other thing, today while in neutral while revving between 1000-3000 rpms I felt the flywheel as if it were unbalanced then correcting itself for a short split second, is this normal because I never felt this with my old flywheel?

It is normal and exactly what I was stating above-don’t worry about it, you are being hyper-sensitive now

I hear a stretching squeaking noise from under the transmission case. Clutch pedal is ten times easier to push in now so I don't understand why there is any noise coming from either the slave cylinder and/or clutch fork. It sounds like it's under more stress, it's like a stressful stretching sound but is quiet for the most part. Aren't the hydraulics under much less strain now?

It is fine, don’t worry about it. The easier movement of the pressure plate fingers allows the slave cylinder to move more freely, under less stress. Assuming that is what you are hearing, it is a happy noise.

The dealer replaced that big plastic ball on the clutch fork, the fork was in good condition so they recommended not ret.placing it.


We have only seen 2 damaged forks over the years, one in an R50 and the other an R56 but it is rare.

I automatically replace the dual mass crap with a solid flywheel in all cases, period. For an R56 we use:

JM Turbo Coopers - Steel Clutch Change Kit Mini

and for R53 we use the now common Valeo solid flywheel conversion. Both of these units give exceptional clutch feel and life, cost less than the OE components and are readily available.

 

The hot spots are there from the previous owner not knowing how to drive a manual. He got the clutch hot & more than once.

You are being smart replacing the flywheel, clutch, pressure plate & throw out bearing while the transmission is off.

 

Sitting on a hill at a stop with the clutch 1/2 engaged instead of using the brakes and knowing how to drive a stick from a dead stop on a hill. People that really know how drive stick don't need silly hill assist.


That's my bet.

 

Man that flywheel looks cooked but good! Crazy lots of heat did that. The clutch disc looks like it has some life left as far as wear, but it has been cooked too.

At a red light do not sit there with the clutch held to the floor. That is hard on the trow out bearing. MINI uses a poor design. Put your car in neutral at lights. Your throw out bearing will thank you by having a long life.

I'm happy the clutchectomy went well.

 

One cause is downshifting without rev matching the engine.

 

That flywheel is a large paper weight.

How long does a clutch last, well that depends on you & how you use it. I'd say at a minimum 100,000 miles.

I will engage my clutch hard on occasion, but mostly I treat it with kindness.

 

Quoted just to say WOW!! GREAT POST!! GREAT INFO!!
A few more posts like that, and m/a will have to pay YOU!!