JimAttrill Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 I noticed in a recent post that loss of drive with a 300tdi was blamed on either the mainshaft splines going (on a pre-96 transfer box) or the clutch center breaking out. We have never had a clutch centre break. Is this because we always use the Valeo clutch rather than the Borg and Beck? I think the Valeo clutch is specified for the 130 but we always use them on all 300 tdi vehicles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Henson Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 Well I've changed a few clutches, and would say from experience that Valeo clutches break rather than wear out, but I've never had a broken Borg and Beck clutch. Having said that, the 130 Valeo clutch seems very strong, but in my experience it's used as a H/D replacement for 200 and 300 TDi units, and I have no experience yet of them either wearing out or breaking where fitted as standard. Les. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 I have personally see two Valeo clutches that tore the centre out within a month of being fitted on a vehicle here. Perhaps they were bad manufacture - who knows. The vehicle was a cherry picker so not abused! The rivets holding the centre plates together let go and the whole thing just disintegrated into a shower of springs and bits. The guy who changed it was not amused after the first one and even less amused when another one lasted the same time on the same vehicle! A replacement was fitted and still fine. Clutch centres do go but generally only when quite old and I am afraid I don't know what make they would usually be - they are pretty old and skanky by the time they usually go pop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimAttrill Posted March 31, 2007 Author Share Posted March 31, 2007 I had a look at my Valeo clutch in the garage - it is only a couple of months old and the owner insisted it be renewed even though the problem was the flywheel. So I snaffled it for my own use. Anyway, the cardboard box says 'Made in Spain' and the plate itself says 'Made in Korea'. So it looks as if the Korean one was replaced by a Spanish one. So it seems there are different sorts of Valeo clutches, just to complicate the issue. Talking of clutches, we had a TD5 flywheel disintegrate recently. Now that was a mess, springs and rivets and unidentified bits of metal all over the place. Luckily the bell housing was not damaged. What persuaded LR to move the springs from the pressure plate to the flywheel? Do they get engineering degrees out of Cornflake packets? I see an ad in LRM for a TD5 billet flywheel for competition. We are thinking of getting one or two made here, can't be difficult. But I suppose then we would have to use a 300tdi clutch with springs in it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted March 31, 2007 Share Posted March 31, 2007 There was a recall on Td5 flywheels, maybe it wasn't changed in the recall? They had a habit of going bang, allegedly, though I have never seen a banged one, only a cracked one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimAttrill Posted March 31, 2007 Author Share Posted March 31, 2007 No, this one was in bits. We fitted a new one. This engine was way beyond the recall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rick Posted April 1, 2007 Share Posted April 1, 2007 Jim, one of the blokes on the AULRO forum has a Land Rover garage in Tasmania and he confirmes what Les and Stephen said, that in his experience the Valeos tend to disintegrate whereas the B&B's eventually just wear out. Having said that, one Valeo he swapped out had 230,000km on it and the plate still had plenty of meat on it. It was only changed as they were in there replacing the rear main seal. As a consequence of the type of centre failures he's seen with some Valeo's, he only supplies and fits B&B's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Smith Posted April 1, 2007 Share Posted April 1, 2007 I had a Valeo clutch disintegrate when it was hardly worn, it had "made in france" stamped on it so it appears they make them everywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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