What Is A Flywheel And What Does A Flywheel Do

Manual vehicle drivers do lots of work to change gears.

However, drivers cannot see the parts which are in motion constantly to make the vehicles under your control.

Flywheel is one of these parts, which is vitally important for manual vehicle.

In this blog, we ZNDmotor will let you know what a flywheel is, what it can do and what things about flywheel might go wrong.

Flywheel’s construction

Flywheel proves to be a metal disc which is very thick.

It is usually made of cast iron, steel or aluminum.

Prevention of warpage and flexing during use is seriously strict.

Gear teeth is on the edge of flywheel, which engage with starter motor.

Flywheel is installed to the flange on the transmission side of crankshaft with bolts, besides inside the bell housing.

On the side that is faced with manual transmission, the flywheel surface is flat, which enable clutch disc to grab onto.

What flywheel can do

Generally speaking, flywheel’s functions are fourfold:

1, Flywheel can provide mass for rotational inertia to make engine running. Otherwise, when driver releases the accelerator pedal, the engine would stall.

2, Flywheel can make engine balanced. Flywheel is weighted to crankshaft to erase rough feeling caused by slight imbalance.

3, Flywheel allows for electric starter. Starter motor engages the starter ring on the edge of flywheel to make engine rotating.

4, Flywheel connects engine with transmission through clutch, which aims to transfer power to wheels.

When driver presses clutch pedal, clutch disc is disengaged from flywheel, which can interpret how vehicle can sit still at idle with shifter in gear and how vehicle can coast to a stop.

However, when driver releases clutch pedal, clutch disc would press against flywheel firmly. In such a circumstance, the rotating speed of transmission input shaft is as same as that of engine’s crankshaft.

Flywheel issues that may take place

Flywheel is durable because of its heavy-duty construction. But that doesn’t mean there is no issue at all. In fact, issues are not frequent.

Contamination turns out to be the most common issue.

A leaking rear main crankshaft seal or a transmission front input shaft seal could leak oil onto flywheel, which can lead to clutch slippage, excessive friction and heat.

Warpage or hot spots could take place as well, which can lead to vibration on engagement and acceleration.

In some extreme situation, flywheel can crack because of hard use in racing or heavy-duty vehicles.

In some cases, flywheel could be resurfaced to restore a flat, even surface connected with clutch, if issues are hot spots or warpage.

If resurfacing is unlikely to be succeed, replacement turns out to be the only method.

Would like to know flywheel by ZNDmotor? Contact us now !!! Our professional staff are ready to assist.