Smell of burning in Defender 90

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Xdefender

New Member
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Hi - I just recently purchased a 3 year old Defender with very low mileage however today as I was driving along there was suddenly a very strong burning smell in the cabin and it started to shake when I slowed down - the smell became so bad i had to open all the windows - I am thinking it may be a burnt out clutch which i thought would be unusual for such a new model - has anyone any idea what this might be or have they experienced this before.

Thanks

Xdefender
 
Xdefender said:
Hi - I just recently purchased a 3 year old Defender with very low mileage however today as I was driving along there was suddenly a very strong burning smell in the cabin and it started to shake when I slowed down - the smell became so bad i had to open all the windows - I am thinking it may be a burnt out clutch which i thought would be unusual for such a new model - has anyone any idea what this might be or have they experienced this before.

Thanks

Xdefender
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What sort of burning smell was it? were you breaking heavily, riding the clutch, driving with your handbrake on , climbing mount everest, driving with a puncture, etc?
 
At first i thought it was a smell of fuel but then it turned to smell of burning wires or rubber - and the gears are really heavy especially reverse. Im going to get it checked out by a dealer its still under warranty... thankfully! Not climbing everest today no - too easy for the defender!
 
Xdefender said:
At first i thought it was a smell of fuel but then it turned to smell of burning wires or rubber - and the gears are really heavy especially reverse. Im going to get it checked out by a dealer its still under warranty... thankfully! Not climbing everest today no - too easy for the defender!
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do you rest your foot on the clutch when driving or were you holding it on the biting point? it does sound like clutch but could be brakes or burning wiring too.
 
No I would never do that - I hope its not serious - i mean its practically new .... in defender years anyway - only 17k on clock.
 
Xdefender said:
No I would never do that - I hope its not serious - i mean its practically new .... in defender years anyway - only 17k on clock.
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Aaaaah. There is a difference etween defender years and ford transit years. When the transits first came out they were lucky to get 600 miles out of a clutch.

I spent 3 weeks doing nothing more than towing in the local utility companies fleet of them. They had to rush in experts from all around the world to sort em out quick.
 
if its a tdci fender then you are going to get troubles with clutches .:mad:
know a guy that works in a local main stealers he has had a few in for multipal clutch replacements and all under warranty (think he said 1 electricity board 110 had had 6 or 7 inside 2 years )
 
Xdefender said:
Great - now im worried! What was the outcome - were they ok once fixed?
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Yes..... Until the next time.:eek::eek::eek:

The clutches on the puma defenders don't tend to last as long as the previous models clutches. I don't drive a flat bed any more so don't know how many we're still getting in but Transit wise I rekon I probably tow 2 or 3 (at least) a week due to burnt out clutch. They tend to burn out even quicker if they have to tow or if they are reversed up hills. You used to see transits towing mini diggers all the time. You hardly ever see it now. Wanna guess why?:(
 
Xdefender said:
Great - now im worried! What was the outcome - were they ok once fixed?
Click to expand...

well last time i spoke to him (about a month back) he said it was and will be "ongoing" sorry bud :( apparantly its a dual mass clutch whatever the **** that means :rolleyes:
on another note the gearbox is same as the mondeo :eek::doh:
 
I hope this is not going to be an ongoing issue - I couldn't afford to keep getting it fixed once the warranty runs out. Thanks for the information.
 
Xdefender said:
I hope this is not going to be an ongoing issue - I couldn't afford to keep getting it fixed once the warranty runs out. Thanks for the information.
Click to expand...

would'nt be tempted to take out extended warranty by the way (i did on my 56 plate 90) would cover drive train but not consumables (they class wheel bearings as consumables so think clutches would fall in that category too :mad: and does'nt cover any electronics either (which was my main reason for taking it out initially :mad: )
 
Was on to the dealer today and he said LR warranty wont cover general wear and tear on clutch . I would have liked TD5 but couldn't get one.
 
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