I'm sure some of you read the new Fiesta review in last Saturday's (6th) Telegraph. Did anyone pick up on the comment from the (named) Ford Project Manager with respect to dual mass flywheels? To quote:
"We want to get rid of those things - they're expensive, heavy and they go wrong".
Unless this an off-the-record comment isn't it a bit unusual these days for a major manufacturer to make such an admission that the technology it uses might not be particularly reliable?
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They may be less reticent in this case, as they're referring to Peugeot technology.....
Despite the TDCi debacle, to give Ford their due; they do seem to take reliability failings fairly seriously and actively seek solutions - unlike some other manufacturers that ignore the same old fault year-after-year and blankly deny all knowledge of any problems.
I wouldn't be surprised to see DMFs pass into history. [Now if cats and DPFs could just join them....]
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Quote here:
www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/main.jhtml?xml=/motor...1
Reckon off-the-cuff comes in to play and that expensive is the operative word, AFAIK they are still fitted to the Mondeo, S-Max et al.
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Ford and to a lesser extent the other American motor companies have an intense dislike of anything they can't make themselves, especially when sourced outside the US. Paying suppliers of finished components for materials, labout and profit just doesn't rest easily with them.
Historically, Ford have tried to go it alone in order to avoid paying the likes of Lucas, Bosch and Weber by creating the automotive horrors of Autolite and FoMoCo etc. As the Americans "don't do" small diesels, they had to go cap in hand to PSA.
Very regrettably, the pay off was a Ford owned fuel systems supplier (Delphi) which arose from the ashes of Lucas CAV. Presumably PSA believed Ford when they offered in-house fuel systems for the PSA engines as part of the deal. I wonder if PSA would do it again - the Bosch fuelled IDI engines and early HDi units were first class diesels.
So, LUK and Sachs look out. DMFs are a pain and don't take kindly to driver abuse. They are however pretty much an essential fitment to a refined diesel of any size so I don't think they will go away. I just don't want to see the FoMoCo version.
659.
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Ford and to a lesser extent the other American motor companies have an intense Autolite and FoMoCo etc. As the Americans "don't do" small diesels they had to go cap in hand to PSA. >>
Very regrettably the pay off was a Ford owned fuel systems supplier (Delphi) which arose from the ashes of Lucas CAV. Presumably PSA believed Ford when they offered in-house fuel systems for the PSA engines as part of the deal. I wonder if PSA would do it again >>
659, why are you so anti Ford, the Ford built 2.0 and 2.2 TDCis are class leading for efficiency, refinement and power (as was the 1.8 TDCi in the Focus when launched in 2001) and that is with Delphi systems - perhaps because of their Delphi systems, afterall others have struggled to match them. Likewise the Ford/PSA (joint venture) TDCi/HDis which are also fitted to Volvos, Mazdas, Minis etc etc.
DMF's ........ They are however pretty much an essential fitment to a refined diesel of any size so I don't think they will go away. >>
I would tend to agree though the comments re the Fiesta are interesting.
Edited by Webmaster on 25/09/2008 at 01:44
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The art of making diesel fuel systems components is to produce them consistently.
From any maker, these things are about the most finely toleranced things you will ever own - an order of magnitude more accurately machined and lapped than a good mechanical watch.
I am not satisfied that Delphi fuel systems have achieved this consistency and I am further doubtful as to whether the Japanese fuel systems (usually European designs built under licence) have either.
So, for my money, we are left with the major German supplier. These people have been producing diesel fuel systems for years without take-overs, changes of ownership or licensing constraints which rob them of design authority.
Some Delphi fuelled engines are indeed world-beating but I'd rather have one which works fairly well and has a much lower probability of expensive failure. I pay my money into the marketplace as I find it.
659.
Edited by 659FBE on 11/09/2008 at 21:06
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