Swirl Flaps

[plonkster]

Possibly an old topic that has been answered before. I have a fairly high-mileage 2003 320d. For safety sake I want to get rid of the Swirl Flaps before the engine inhales one of them. I would prefer to blank the holes using something similar to the plugs made by the PMW guys in the UK (http://www.pmwltd.co.uk/?page_id=155) but I'm not really willing to pay 12 pounds a piece. Any ideas where I can get a similar product locally in Cape Town area?

 

[freerider]

Does the 320d have swirl flaps??

I thought only the 330d has them....

 

[plonkster]

Does the 320d have swirl flaps??

I thought only the 330d has them....

The 100kw unit used before September 2001 doesn't have swirl flaps and the turbos apparently last a lot longer.

Post 2001 the engines (110kw) have swirl flaps and turbo issues. Late 2003 a new turbo was introduced that solves the turbo problems, and in 2004 the swirl flaps were uprated.

My car is on its third turbo, but the one it has now is the uprated one (previous owner told me this). I have no idea what the swirl flap situation is at the moment, will check it when I get it back tomorrow. I am however pretty certain it will have the older type of swirl flaps.

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Does the 320d have swirl flaps??

I thought only the 330d has them....

Come to think of it, I haven't even lifted the engine cover on this one yet, so it is entirely possible that it doesn't have them flaps. Maybe the South African built engines don't have them, seeing as their function is at least in part to reduce emissions. Haven't been able to find info on this so far.

 

[freerider]

I know that the EGR valves on the 320d's cause problems

 

[plonkster]

I just want to avoid any major breakage, the kind that costs in excess of 10k to fix. Ingesting a swirl flap seems pretty high up on that list, perhaps even more costly than a turbo.

 

[freerider]

I had to replace injectors on my 320d when I still had it. R24k later.

 

[Jandre]

Pardon my ignorance.. but what de hell is a swirl flap?

 

[plonkster]

Pardon my ignorance.. but what de hell is a swirl flap?

It makes the airway "longer", causing more swirl, less emissions, makes it more drivable at lower speeds, etc etc... and it breaks and gets sucked into the engine.

http://www.pmwltd.co.uk/swirl_flaps.pdf

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I had to replace injectors on my 320d when I still had it. R24k later.

Apparently you can get it fixed a lot cheaper if you go to a non-BMW repairer, eg Dup Diesel. He did my friend's E36 for 7k.

My specific 320d had a diesel pump + injector job right before I bought it so I should be good for a while.

 

[Jandre]

Ahhhhh..

Thank you Plonkster.

 

[plonkster]

My 320d definitely has them swirl flaps.

I suppose my only options for a flapectomy is to either get the PMW cover plates or get a local engineering shop to make me some.

 

[Hellas]

Apparently you can get it fixed a lot cheaper if you go to a non-BMW repairer, eg Dup Diesel. He did my friend's E36 for 7k.

Dup Diesel did some fault finding on a cut-out problem on my dad's Sorento and after finding nothing, he didn't charge my dad anything. Nice guy. I'm not sure if the Sorento still struggles with the cut-out whilst driving though

 

[plonkster]

For those interested, I just ordered the PMW blanking plates. Not sure when it'll be here, probably in a week or so. Will tick pictures and measurements once it gets here for future reference.

 

[SirSparky]

maybe take the swirl flaps to engineering works so they can make an extra set and you can start selling them locally?

 

[plonkster]

I completed the Flap removal this afternoon.

Probably took about 5 hours to get it all done, but one of those was spent retrieving a dropped bolt. When re-fitting the EGR valve I dropped one of the bolts and it dropped and fell onto the alternator. I couldn't see it, but I could feel it, barely, with one finger. In finally managed to grab hold of it between my middle and ring fingers...

Didn't take pictures. It is pretty much as this guy says:

http://www.bimmerforums.co.uk/forum/f3/e46-320td-320d-swirl-flap-replacement-t15571/

Once again it seems I was not the first adventurer in those parts. At least two missing parts (not at all serious, but noticable) says someone else has been there before me. One of those vacuum-activated devices that sits on the bottom of the intake manifold was completely loose due to a broken plastic bracket. Fixed it right up with a cable tie. I know the dealers did a lot of work on turbos, glow plugs, etc etc before I bought it, in other words, these missing parts were left out by the so-called trained techs... makes you think

After reassembly the car started straight away and seems no different to what it was before. The one thing that IS different is that the irritating rpm bounce at 1700rpm is gone. Let me explain: In a low gear, up to 3rd, if you drive at an engine speed of about 1700rpm the car will go into a type of jerky oscillation. As far as I know, this is about the speed where the swirl flaps open, so that explains it.

 

[Hellas]

:thumbsup: Did you also clean the EGR whilst doing the flaps? Or even a EGR delete?

We so have to do mine in December. How much was it all in total?

 

[plonkster]

:thumbsup: Did you also clean the EGR whilst doing the flaps? Or even a EGR delete?

Getting at the EGR is easy enough (only one engine cover to remove), and as it was getting late I left it for now. From visual inspection it seems okay for now.

I read somewhere that the EGR reduces combustion temperatures and that this is a good thing for your turbo. Wikipedia seems to agree:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exhaust_gas_recirculation

So I'm not going to do a delete.

We so have to do mine in December. How much was it all in total?

I paid R800 for the blanking plates, ordered them from pmwltd.co.uk via paypal. I took measurements and made a freehand drawing which I can make available if you want to try and make your own. It took 5 hours of my own time, but at the rate most mechies charge that would be another R700 to R1000. And two cable ties.

 

[plonkster]

I made this drawing on the calendar pad next to my PC some time last week and took a photo of it I think all is there. It has a top view (on the 19th) and a side view (on the 20th). The O-ring measurements is supposed to be inside diameter and outside diameter.

 

[Hellas]

Maybe I already asked this Q somewhere else, but why cant you simply just cut off the spindle and flap and put the original bracket back?

 

[plonkster]

Maybe I already asked this Q somewhere else, but why cant you simply just cut off the spindle and flap and put the original bracket back?

You asked me via PM a few weeks ago I didn't inspect the flaps that closely, and they were covered in so much soot that it wasn't immediately obvious. I don't know exactly how the axle is secured to the bracket but I suspect hacking off the spindle will cause the outer parts to just fall out. This url (uprated flaps, different engine, but exactly the same as the 320d) suggests that after cutting the axle you can just pull out the parts out:

http://forums.5series.net/index.php?showtopic=70452

And on this one it seems it is actually the flap itself that keeps things from falling out:

http://i469.photobucket.com/albums/rr51/staddly_bear/Fig7.jpg

But let me take a look this afternoon and I'll get back to you.

 

[Hellas]

Thanks. Yeah, the one option I reckon was to just unscrew the flaps from the spindle and the second is to completely cut it off.

But I think you are right about the outer parts falling out if you cut off the spindle, as some of the DIY's describe how to close that little hole (where the spindle went through) with a screw and some epoxy. The downside to this method is that even a 1mm or 2mm piece of epoxy that comes loose, will make your piston head look like a golf ball...