Swirl flaps

[x555]

[quote=""AW8""]Junkie - Yes I do seem to recall you were one of the few who looked into this , (using your old username). LOL re me joining the mod gang ; I am pretty conservative in that department. This is to some extent through choice in keeping things original & also that financial priorities make it easier for me to justify expenditure for maintenance items.

Pvr - As for f.o.c. repairs by BMW : A significant number of owners on the land have reported swirl flap & associated failures on E46 320d facelifts & simply had to pick up the repair bill themselves. The problem & historic BMW stance pretty well documented on the land & in the letters pages of the aforemetioned mag.
.........Any chance you can expand on the mag content on the subject ?[/quote]

Junkie???.........i think you'll find the name is x555 ....junkie is the rather large fat handed spanner yeilder that does his own repairs........ohh no that is me

[AW8]

Sorry M ,

Having a confused moment - I will put it down to your different avatar on here, me not attending past Bristol events,a certain junkie changing his username & lack of sleep.

[AW8]

For folk wanting info re blank plates http://www.pmwltd.co.uk/?page_id=155

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

As said I prior spoke to proprietor on behalf of diesel owners on the old site - he was unable to say how many E53's are potentially affected.

A cache search on bmw land found

[quote=""Willlroy69""]

Hi , i have a 53 plate facelift x5 .No swirl flaps are fitted. I checked by taking engine cover off , On the rightside under manifold their is no evidence of rods to operate swirl flaps. Also to the rear should be a diaphram when fitted with swirl flaps ,there is no evidence on mine . If you do a search you can tell the signs if it will have them. If you go to real oem and do a search on the year of car it will also tell you.

[/quote]

[x555]

LOL that x5 cpe has alot to answer for

[bazzyboy]

facelift 3.0d do not have swirl flaps fitted
no need to worry guys & gals
cheers baz

[Sanj]

[quote=""bazzyboy""]facelift 3.0d do not have swirl flaps fitted
no need to worry guys & gals
cheers baz[/quote]

Baz - are you sure? I've followed this post since AW8 brought up the subject on the old forum. Today with that pdf link I finally see what I would be looking for. That's made me want to go out there right now. I couldn't want to check any quicker! Was gonna take off the cover and look for that rail...

Got a 250 mile trip tomorrow so it was pencilled in to check Wednesday! Love for you to save me the trouble!

Just wanna know how you're so sure (to put my mind at rest).

Was looking to take a load of pics for others too...

[AW8]

Bazzboy,

Thanks for post

For reassurance of others please be so kind as to qualify your comments & explain why you believe or know all facelift E53 3.0d's to be absent of swirl flaps. I hope you arent offended by this request & understand that folk will be keen to be have 100% verified & accurate info ideally with citation of source.

Sanj glad the pdf info of use.

Folks theres some more info in links here

http://www.bmwswirlflaps.co.uk/

http://www.bmwswirlflaps.co.uk/swirl_flaps.html

As most know there is extensive chat on the land forums - haven't trawled recently to see if any confirmation re any X models being affected.

[X5Sport]

Discussed this issue with my Dealer tonight when I went to look at my new toy (She's a beauty!! dealer let me have the Owers Manual to read in the meantime. No pics as it was raining and dark), which I pick up on Thursday. The Service folks said they thought all 3.0d engines had them but unhelpfully they weren't 100% certain as they had not seen a failure in 5-6 years. I did point out to the two guys there that at their prices few Owners were likely to bring a non-warranty car in when there was a good indy not far away. This they accepted with good grace. I'm going to have a chat with that Indy (PCS Milton Keynes) tomorrow and see what they think.

The Dealer did tell me that the engine replacement is around £7k. If either of ours have swirl flaps then I am extremely tempted to remove and blank off. It's a lot better than a wrecked power unit which could well mean an otherwise OK vehicle is written off. Both our 3.0d powered BMWs are under warranty cover so this limits what I'm allowed to do myself without invalidating it. I'll add details once I know more.

[thedweeb]

Just when I thought it was safe.........f**king Swirl flaps...I'm like you Sanj I want to get the spanners out now at 23:15 and have alook, it will have to wait until the weekend. In the mean time I've shot an email to the stealers that service the car before I got it too see if they have any info on work carried out on the flaps. Fingers crossed it stays together until then...

[AW8]

Apologies to all if the links have provoked spanner intentions - in my defence I didnt start this thread

[Sanj]

No need AW8 - this looks a relatively easy fix. And you could save someone potentially thousands!

Gonna have a word with Jason tomorrow and see if I can get mine checked/removed if present. Plus do a 'How To' for anyone else who simply wishes to check.

Although I am VERY tempted to get that manifold cover off myself. Any pointers anyone - or just a case of removing the bolts and prising it open???

Can't remember where that link is for the blanking plugs though - anyone?

[thedweeb]

A how to would be great as I'm sure there will be a few of us that will take a alook.

[AW8]

[quote=""Sanj""]
Can't remember where that link is for the blanking plugs though - anyone?[/quote]

I thought diy info & blank plate info was on the link X555 posted.

Oh well - try this clicky

[pvr]

I sent a question to that PMW website regarding facelift 3.0d engines, but did not get a reply.

Very surprising in a way that there is no definate answer as it should be a case of being able to type in your chassis number at the dealer and seeing if the part is in there?

Regarding the failure rate - I had a chat with the service a few months back about the turbo failure rate, and he said that in the 10 years he had been at the dealers they had only had 1 failure. Based on that, you would think that it was virtually impossible for that to go as well so my faith in dealer responses is not that great in predicting component failures.

[AW8]

Allegedly prior statements from BMW re number of swirl flap failures haven't convinced others albeit I accept early facelift E46 320d seems to be in limelight.