jasonprice07

115000 miles, flaps still in place but operation disabled so always in the open position.
Do not know history, only just bought it.

Jason

Bob525D

What the heck, I dont have a 530d but i do have a 2004 525d with 77K on the clock. I removed mine a few weeks ago after weeks of deciding, i decided that i didnt like playing russian roulette with my car. The thought of having to replace my engine scared the crap out of me, my car does have a full dealer history but i didnt fancy my chances of a good will from BMW if they failed in this economic climate.

Flapless and driving with piece of mind is my priority.

Dr Dave

jason i have no idea why the flaps have been disabled in your car..?? for what reason
its not the "opperation" of the flaps that causes concern, its the metal breaking where the flap is joined to the pencil like shaft. its the "suction" of the inlet that can cause the flaps to break a way and "fall" on top of the piston, i dont think that holding them in the open position will stop the "suction" forces being applied to the flaps (albeit with them in the open position - ) it might help a little.
when i removed the flaps on my 2004 530d one of them was "about" to come adrift, the weld/pins that secured them to the 4mm shaft were very loose and i dont know how many more miles it would have taken before falling down on top of the piston, which would have resulted on catastrophic engine damage


any engineers care to comment?

pauld30

thanks for the reply.
how many miles had your car done, when you inspected the swil flaps?

Dr Dave

i did 2 cars, one had 66k and the other 80k, it was the higher milage car that had the "lose" swirl flaps.

jasonprice07

I checked them at 115000 miles.

Jason

jasonprice07

Forgot to mention I'm a diesel calibration engineer who has worked on common rail engines for 8 years and works in a Diesel technical centre with 500 other engineers.
Think that answers your question

Jason

Dr Dave

so what are you saying jason? that the flaps would not break a way when in the open position?
i am of the oppinion that they can and will. (but im not an engineer)
common sence tells me that the forces in the inlet manifold are still present weither the flaps are open or closed, and its the "constant suction" that makes the flaps wear and work loose, i do understand however that its also the action of the flaps opening and closing that causes wear, but for me its the presures in the manifold rather than the opening and closing that causes failure, im basing this on the fact that the 4mm bar does not wear/fail...its the welds/pop rivets that holds the flaps to the bar, and its these that have the forces excerted on them (not the "swiveling" of the flaps on the bar)
you need to take the manifold off to understand what i mean, just look at the way these are designed and how fragile the welds/little pop rivet things are.
i dont know how many times per minuite these things are opening/closing, but i would think its millions during its 70k out of warrenty timescale.

again its all down to personal peice of mind, i dont care who does not want to do this......i have and i can sleep better for it.
good luck, and i hope your not one of the 2,000+

320d touring

Mine is from 8/2004 with 73500 miles and the flaps still in place (and working).

Anyone know if it has only affected non DRF cars or not ?

jasonprice07

I did not want to remove the flaps until I was happy there was no performance or driveability issues, hence why I disabled their operation.
Next time the manifold is off I will take them out.

Jason