2004 e46 330d swirl flap failure

[Waseem 333i]

Easy to do the swirl flap delete. Take them out, take a hacksaw and cut the shaft off and take the remainder of the shaft out and plug it with a 5mm brass or stainless steel screw with taper head and screw it in there with some vasvat. I taper the inside of the swirl flap and recess the head of the screw (hence the taper head) and then cut the screw slightly longer than what is necessary and after i tightened it i carefully hammer the thread so that there is no chance whatsoever for the nut to come loose. Have done about 8 or 10 cars now and they are still going strong. I do not take chances so after i got my 2008/2009 E60 530d i did the swirl flap delete. Did Stiaan's 2008 530d as well. There is no guarantee that the E60/E90 swirl flaps will not come loose. Took me about three hours to do my X3 (ok, i already had the swirl flaps modified and ready as i have a spare 6 cylinder inlet manifold ) The E60's have the larger swirl flaps but the operation is much the same. Also, check out your oil seperator as the E46 diesels all use the old loo type ( i think the early E90 diesels also used that type). As both my E60's had no filter in whatsoever, i removed the loo type in my 2005 X3 as well and now have an empty oil seperator.

So oil separator i can just remove the loo roll part and fit the rest back to the car?

 

[ChefDJ]

The new type oil separator can be had from the agents and is not expensive at all.

 

[Solo Man]

Both my E60 530d's are currently running without anything in the "casing". I removed the loo type filter in my X3 also so that is also running without anything in there. Do it at your own risk but if both the E60's came from the factory without it, i cannot see why it is necessary????

 

[Waseem 333i]

I'm going to do it. The vortex one also has noting inside.

Sent by my cellphone

 

[shailesh]

will it not be easier just to remove the 2 screws on the flap then the metal piece will come off .
That were the problem is.

 

[zubz.parker10]

I DID mine last night . flaps were in good condition thou

 

[CliftonH]

I want to do mine, I suspect an oil leak from the swirl flaps somewhere,
I rather do it then chance it, but there are some things I can do and some things I cant, and swirl flaps looks like it is going to be a mission, maybe someone can help me do it, and I will pay you. I want to order the blanks from e-bay.

 

[Solo Man]

Spoke to garage owner yesterday when we did the damper pulley replacement on my son's 320d. He mentioned that his cousin had a swirlie come off his 2008 320d and had gone into the engine. 2008, so please, do not take chances. Remove them, they do break off and can go only one way, into the engine!

 

[Waseem 333i]

Cliff I'll help you out bro. Judging from guetzer's car the shaft broke. So best to remove it

Sent by my cellphone

 

[Guetzer]

Cliff I'll help you out bro. Judging from guetzer's car the shaft broke. So best to remove it

Sent by my cellphone

yup.. the shafts broke off where the screw goes through them... please guys, learn from my mistake of not removing them... remove those ticking time bombs!! a friend of mine's e90 320d actually also swallowed a swirl flap yesterday... not sure what year but pre LCI.

---

here is how mine broke off:

 

[Waseem 333i]

Normally it was told of the screws coming loose then falling into the cylinder. I'm hoping in your case because a big chunk broke that only a valve would have got damaged.

Sent by my cellphone

 

[Guetzer]

Normally it was told of the screws coming loose then falling into the cylinder. I'm hoping in your case because a big chunk broke that only a valve would have got damaged.

Sent by my cellphone

Yeah, thats also what I read, however the screws were still in the shaft but the shaft broke in two. Ill hopefully have the head off by tomorrow to see whats going on.

 

[Guetzer]

We have a 2005 e90 330d auto which we want to remove the swirl flaps, but apparently the autos struggle when the flaps are removed as they create a flat spot. Is there maybe a way to fit newer 2008+ swirl flaps in the 2005 manifold or something?

 

[Waseem 333i]

We have a 2005 e90 330d auto which we want to remove the swirl flaps, but apparently the autos struggle when the flaps are removed as they create a flat spot. Is there maybe a way to fit newer 2008+ swirl flaps in the 2005 manifold or something?

I didn't have that issue when my car was auto

Scratch that. I saw only afterwards that you asking about e90

 

[Guetzer]

We have a 2005 e90 330d auto which we want to remove the swirl flaps, but apparently the autos struggle when the flaps are removed as they create a flat spot. Is there maybe a way to fit newer 2008+ swirl flaps in the 2005 manifold or something?

I didn't have that issue when my car was auto

Scratch that. I saw only afterwards that you asking about e90

lol aww almost got some hope there for a second

 

[Guetzer]

So we stuck a endoscope in the ports and cylinder to try and see how bad the damage is, due to not wanting to remove the head unnecessarily, however we could not really see too much, there wasn't any major damage visible and no sign of the flap. I took the intake manifold and shook it and out fell the missing swirl flap, all bent and mangled. No idea how it got back into the manifold.. but the sad part is the shaft and 2 screws of the flap is still missing...

 

[Waseem 333i]

Would it be possible the shaft not fall out when you removed the manifold? Have you tried starting the car again?

Sent by my cellphone

 

[Guetzer]

Would it be possible the shaft not fall out when you removed the manifold? Have you tried starting the car again?

Sent by my cellphone

I didnt hear or notice anything like that, will have a look but i doubt it. Gonna reasemble everything and start the car soon.

 

[Waseem 333i]

You can plug in injectors and start the car without the manifold. It will throw up boost errors and what not but you should see the idle be normal or not

Sent by my cellphone

 

[Guetzer]

Heres a vid of how it runs. Looks like there's smoke coming out of the intake port on cylinder 6. Probably possible that the shaft of the swirl flap went into cylinder 6.
[video=youtube]