Nice! Congratulations on the "mod" .
You're lucky that torx didn't fall into the engine haha!

- Antti -

 

Hi all - my first post here.

Recently bought a 530d 2004 80k miles.

Did all the reading on the common faults, swirl flaps, breathers, thermostats EGR etc.
Must admit to being a little anxious about the swirl flaps in particular.

Anyway did the flaps job today and the EGR stat while I was at it. Not too bad a job, if you have a good set of tools to hand.

Finally pulled the inlet manifold, got it on the bench and had a good look.

F***** ME!

5 flaps working ok, but 1 had lost one of the fixings screws.
It was twisted and didn't operate with the rest.

As it was jammed against the side, it wasn't possible to pull the whole flap out of the manifold.
I reached in with a finger to see if it would rotate and the bloody thing fell off.
The shaft sheared just where the second screw was. No force applied at all.

Seems the car has ingested one screw in the past and got away with it.
It was only a gnats fart from taking the whole flap in.

With all the crud that accumulates in the manifold, it's easy to see at a glance these flaps are no
Where near strong enough in construction.

A run after the job showed there is no noticeable difference pulling away
as everyone else seems to report.

If you are even thinking about checking the flaps on your motor, DO IT NOW!

Don't bother with blanking plates - why waste money? It's not like you are likely to ever see them again.
A 6mm self tapper screw will wind in nicely where you remove the shaft from the existing plugs. They will screw into the plastic nicely and seal perfectly. Add a blob of araldite to the head of the screw for further peace of mind.

I have shivers just thinking how close this was...............

 

Welcome to the forums Bob and congratulations on your fix!

- Antti -

 

I'd like to say a massive thank you to the OP for this thread.... I did this today after printing off the guide - I couldn't have done it without this thread.

The only problem I had was the lack of a Dremel or similar tool , thinking a hack saw would do the trick. I found the hack saw very very labouring after finding that I had the strengthened flaps, so in the end i chopped the plastic body with the saw and took off the plastic head to allow the flaps to fall out.....

Much respect!!

Tim

 

Just about to attempt this tomorrow weather permitting, just been to a DIY shop and the guy is confused at the size i said about the M5 screws, he reckons there's no such thing as a M5 screw just m5 Threaded bolts which have a nut on them are called M5, the screws in the picture are called self tappers over here in the uk and come in size 2/4/6 then 8?.....not sure which ones to get tbh?

 

I guess the screws are not very expensive in UK either, so why not to buy different sizes and then use the most suitable.

- Antti -

 

Yeah i bought a pack of different sizes today, fingers crossed all goes well tomorrow.

 

Try the bigger B&Q DIY stores, they had the M5 screws, if none of the ones you bought fit.

Good Luck

 

Great write up mate!
Is this only a problem on the 3.0 engine? Or is it all 6 cylinder diesels?

 

It's pretty much all diesels, unfortunately.

- Antti -