[wezzie]

Having recently read BMW car magazine I noticed an ad for replacement swirl flaps on BMW diesel engines. All I can say is WTF? Has anybody out there got any experience of having to replace this component? Could it really mean an engine rebuild? Would this be covered by a standard BMW warrantee?

[mjh93sa]

some more from someone doing blanking plugs...http://www.pmwltd.co.uk/?page_id=155

[F31-340i]

This was common on E46 320d, but I thought the design weakness was sorted by the time they started making E90s?

[jwbmw]

sounds like someone should call for advice from the Vivorator!

[HighlandPete]

The extent of swirl flap issues is still not clear, even for late model M series diesel engines. The N series have completely different manifolds.

Knowing the failure can trash the engine, not something to ignore and an additional reason why many of us have extended warranties even on the E9* models, as failures are now being reported on the revised spindle design and even the enclosed flap variations.

HighlandPete

[baggy]

I had this happen to my old 52 plate 320d........ £6000 worth of damage.

on the plus side it had a week of warranty left on it... phew

[Shadow]

Originally Posted by HighlandPete

The extent of swirl flap issues is still not clear, even for late model M series diesel engines.

Damn. I had hoped this was fixed with the revised design. Is there anything that can be done by way of preventative maintenance?

[AlwynMike]

I don't know if this problem is more prevalent on the 5 series, but it is certainly a lot more talked about on the 5er forums.
There have been many reports of ingested flaps, of earlier and later types - although, to be fair, there are a lot less instances of failure of the later type enclosed, with larger spindles.
I spent a couple of happy hours removing mine from my E60 530d, which gave me some peace of mind as the car is out of warranty. I even got a little better fuel economy afterwards too - bonus!

I'm looking for a 335d now, and I will certainly be throwing away the flaps on that when it comes out of warranty. Maybe this time I will go for the machined blanks, rather than re-using the flap bodies and a screw to block the hole.

Question: Do the E9x series have proiblems with engine breather filters, like the 5 series does? An easy, if time consuming, job to do and relatively cheap - this is now an (undocumented) service item for the 5-er. Every 3 oil services it gets changed. The original problem was that the early filter was a plastic mesh which got clogged and pressurised the engine oil out! The later filter (interchangeable) is a "vortex" type that can't block up.

Mike

[will1968]

Replaced my swirl flaps this Saturday on my E90 2005 320d lucky i did as three of the flaps had come away from the spindles and were only being held on by one of the rivets and the broken rivets were still in place just. Got mine from pmwltd. For my engine they were the 22mm size but some have the 33mm size, best just to order both sizes and then send the unused ones back. I had extended my warranty for the last two years but did'nt this time thats why i got them out, my car has 64000mile with fbmwsh.

[strugers1]

im looking at doing this also..its 70 quid for all 6 flap blankers for mine from swirlflaps.co.uk