Chris A Harrod

Quick questions on this please...

I could only find 5mmx12mm self tapping screws. Will that be sufficient? I bought some epoxy glue to rated up at +130c too. Would rather use blanking plates, but I'm a tight arse. .

I assume rod is reinstalled along with the electrical connector for the servo afterwards?

Anzafin

Yes, those screws are fine.

The long rod can be reinstalled like I did in this thread and the vacuum box / servo then moves only the rod as the swirl flaps are removed.

- Antti -

Chris A Harrod

Many thanks!

I actually didn't end up doing this. Mainly because after spending considerable amount of time changing the glow plugs and control unit, I was exhausted and needed the car running.

I did have a peek at the butterfly's mind. They looked very healthy to be honest. Might still do it one day (sooner rather then later I know), but I do need to change the exhaust manifold next (might get a garage to do it), really don't think I have the patience to do that job!

toughguyhuh

So I finally got to have a day to myself.
This doesn't happen very often these days so I took the chance to follow Anzafin's guide and remove the swirl flaps and at the same time clean the EGR. The swirl flaps have been playing on my mind since I got the car, having had only petrol BMWs before.

It's a good thing I did because I also found a massive pool of water under the air filter where the brake master cylinder is! It was about 6 inches deep! Must have been getting in from all the crud in the plastic channels. So I syphoned it out, took a deep breath and cracked on with Anzafin's guide.

This is what I found:



I doubt those flaps were even moving anyway! But I did notice that they are rubber/plastic flaps, not steel. The car is 04/2004 530dA Touring with 94k miles. So they probably weren't about to disintegrate but judging by all that crap in there I'm glad I took them out. I cleaned out the inlet manifold as best I could with flat blade screwdriver, carb cleaner, toothbrush and paper towel. Then I blew it all out with an air hose, fitted the excessively engineered blanking plates I bought.

My EGR looked like this:



So that got the same treatment as the inlet manifold.

Anyway, once I got it all back together again with no screws left over I fired her up and got an error for Active Steering. Turned the car off, waited, turned it on, message still there. Took it for a burn, turn it off, turned it back on - message vanished never to be seen again.

So I'm now flapless, clean and looking forward to some better MPG! Next step is to replace the TCU with a MULF2 for iPhone Bluetooth and USB... Anyone done this?

Thanks again Anzafin! I doubt I would have been brave enough to try this without your guide.

Anzafin

Congrats on a good work!

Once again, the flaps are metal. They are only covered with rubber.

- Antti -

mambu

hello everybody! greeting from tbilisi (republic of georgia) first of ll sorry for my english...

just bougbt my first bmw - 2006 e60 535d, i did not knew anything about this swirl flaps.. i was just searching in the web some useful information about my car and found this DIY... and i was pretty scared... like omg wtf is this swirl flaps.... after that i have read lot of information about SF here and also in another forums and i decided to remove this engine killers following this DIY

I'm gonna do this using blanking plates... i found three kind of plates

1. 4x 22 mm BMW SWIRL FLAP BLANKING PLATES E46 E60 E61 E90 E91 X3 320d 330d 325 | eBay

2. 6x 32mm BMW SWIRL FLAP BLANKING PLATES E46 E60 E61 E65 E53 335 330 525 | eBay

3. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6x-33-mm-B...item23469ed0c3

as i understand 22mm does not fit my car, what about 32mm and 33mm? what to buy? it seems pretty strange that there is only 1mm difference between them...

also found blankings and manifold gaskets kit here --- 6x BMW SWIRL FLAP BLANKING KIT WITH MANIFOLD GASKET E46 E90 E60 E65 E53 32mm | eBay

what do you think is it better to replace gaskets or it's not necessary?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

another question: what you think about removing egr valve and egr cooler? i have read this in russian forum: "removal of flaps need to be together with the removal of EGR. These two systems are connected with each other and we do not recommend that you remove flaps without removing EGR". here is link of pictures and videos about how it's done --- Îòêëþ÷åíèå ñèñòåìû EGR / Ãëóøèì egr bmw, îòêëþ÷àåì EGR

do you think that it is really necessary to remove them? or may be it is not necessary but could be better? after removing egr and egr cooler they also make program changes...

looking forward of your replies.... thanks...

ripley

I did mine at 48000KM - so I took a chance on the gaskets and they were fine.

The blanking plates were the black plastic ones and look like they were made for the manifold (OEM looking) if that matters to you - I think they came from Poland or Lithuania (ebay).

Later I unplugged EGR line which helped remove some of the lag when starting from stop (at least it feels that way). I have the EGR warning light now though.

Not a hard job to do - I just didn't want to be one of the unlucky flap failure people.

Cheers.

BMW E61 535d

Good evening!

Would these be good if I tap the holes and use a sealant?

Linsenkopfschrauben ISO 7380 Mit Flansch Edelstahl A4 M6 Verschiedene Längen V4A | eBay

I am not sure if I have the 22mm or 33mm swirl flaps. I was originally thinking of buying the blanking plates, but if a M5 or M6 bolt will do the job, then why not just go for it.

Cheers!

Anzafin

I would rather use a screw with bigger threads. The thread in that bolt(?) looks quite small.

Blobthebuilder

sorry to bring up old thread but this gave me confidence to do it today, was cold but avoided the rain lol, my cars flaps rods etc all good, everything even egr fairly clean but spoltess now, anyway my flaps were i think dip coated the flaps were metal with holes in covered in plastic while flaps, rivets etc all good the plastic coating was starting to come off, im not sure if that in itself would cause problems but i notice when i removed plastic on 1 flap that without it the flap is very loose and i think eventually that would cause wear, breakage and engine totalling lol, so what i did was removed all flap casing cut off rear case and flap removed each spindle, applied glue and refitted with arms in same place, cut plastic of the conecting arm, refitted it to all flap spindle arms to hold it in hole then drilled 6 holes into plastic reinforcing on manifold between ports then put 3 cable ties in so pulls connecting rod tight towards flap and makes sure nothing moves then refitted everything, and running well no noticable difference at all, can sleep sound now lol