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530d - Broken Swirl flap = Broken Engine

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Old 02-01-2009, 09:16 AM
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Originally Posted by mini_me' post='782446' date='Feb 1 2009, 08:00 PM
Do we actually know how many different people had this happen?

Eventhough it is terrible for the ones who had the flaps damaging their engines, I am under the impression that it is only a very small number of owners who actually
had problems.
This is a good point, but I rather wouldn't like to worry about winning in this lottery (of doom).
I know several cases here in Finland with E60 and several times more with E39.
Old 02-01-2009, 12:35 PM
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Originally Posted by Dr Dave' post='782434' date='Feb 1 2009, 12:39 PM
i look forward to this diy,
i expect my 530d has them, but can anybody confirm if my 535d (2005) has them also? if so i want to remove them from both cars.

not going to DIY it though, im going to get a garrage/mechanic to do it for me...(not brave enough)
The 535d has them too.
I was very very very lucky because i had a smell like something was burning in my car, and i took it to a BMW dealer.
Well the guys noticed that i had some vacuum hoses wich were not in the best shape, so they had to remove the manifold of the car and noticed that i had 4 broken flaps on one of the sides of where they sit... 4!!!
I was still in time to remove them and so i did!

If i had not noticed the sense of something burning (wich came out to be some spilled oil, so nothing much....) and did not take it to the dealer i could came up with a broken engine!!! It was just a matter of time!


The problem is that the "racks" of the flaps are small. What happens is that every time you take off your foot from the acelarator, the flaps close.
But the engine applies a big amount of sucking when you deflore the acelarator.
Well as the flaps are small and fragile, they end up by braking and beeing sucked to the engine.

You can remove them and there is no need to reprogram the car what so ever.

Do you want my advice?
Do it!

Even if you drive slowly it does not matter...
Old 02-01-2009, 01:35 PM
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Really appreciate that insight eddie12. Certainly seems to drive well except for plenty of exhaust clouds in rear view when accelerate on Motorway. Especially obvious at night. It had latest oil service requirement prior to me taking delivery too. Have put it down to lack of particulate filter present on more recent bmw diesel versions.
Old 02-01-2009, 02:25 PM
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if its any consolation mate, both my cars give a smoke screen when accelerating hard just for a second, the 535d more so because its "over fueling" due to being heavily re-mapped
as long as it clears straight away, then its nothing to worry about, and your right, lack of particle filter does "smoke" a tad more.
Old 02-03-2009, 12:44 AM
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Originally Posted by Dr Dave' post='782624' date='Feb 1 2009, 11:25 PM
if its any consolation mate, both my cars give a smoke screen when accelerating hard just for a second, the 535d more so because its "over fueling" due to being heavily re-mapped
as long as it clears straight away, then its nothing to worry about, and your right, lack of particle filter does "smoke" a tad more.
Thanks Dr Dave feel much happier!
Old 02-03-2009, 02:48 AM
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Originally Posted by Dr Dave' post='782624' date='Feb 1 2009, 11:25 PM
if its any consolation mate, both my cars give a smoke screen when accelerating hard just for a second, the 535d more so because its "over fueling" due to being heavily re-mapped
as long as it clears straight away, then its nothing to worry about, and your right, lack of particle filter does "smoke" a tad more.
Why would your car 'over fuel' because it's been remapped? On certain cars - like Subaru Impreza's this is common (helps with cooling amongst other things as these engine can suffer from piston 3 overheating problems). But why on this type of engine? I would have thought a 'perfect' map would fuel as near to perfect as possible, applying the correct amount of fuel for the given situation, in fact I would have presumed smoke would be decreased as the map would be more 'bespoke' to the individual car?
Old 02-03-2009, 02:54 AM
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Back on topic, glad to say that I have done quite a bit of research on this and the LCI 525d (detuned 3.0d engine) definitely does NOT have the dreaded swirl flaps - a real bonus as far as I'm concerned!

Does raise one question though - why does the 525d engine not require them and the 530d & 535d does require them (real OEM lists different Inlet Manifolds)?

I understand that this spec of engine is 'detuned' but I thought it was all to do with emissions etc. why the swirl flaps are added and the 525d spec engine obviously has lower emmissions anyway but why no need for the flaps to reduce further.....? Don't get me wrong I'm delighted I don't have them, but things like this always getting me wondering and so I like an explanation relating to differences like this!
Old 02-03-2009, 02:55 AM
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Originally Posted by Anzafin' post='782351' date='Feb 1 2009, 02:22 PM
Good for you!
I'm going to remove them too. I planned next saturday, so a DIY will be available on sunday for you who are considering it .
Well, if everything works out .
Look forward to seeing this - I'm sure it will be as comprehensive as always! Just glad I won't need to be doing this as a precaution as I don't have them!
Old 02-03-2009, 04:09 AM
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The 525D (LCI and non LCI - 2.5D) don't have these dreaded beasts, neither do any diesels with the least BHP/output (so the 318d doesn't, but the 320d does though they have essentially the same engine).

I think they are there to create a "swirl" to disturb the air in the manifold to stop any soot etc from depositing itself there for anything coming out via the EGR, at low speeds...

That's what I gleaned after several weeks of investigating this before buying my LCI 525d...and was one reason why I avoided the 530d which I just loved...

There is loads on this at bmwland.co.uk - in the 3 series forum (Potential engine weakness's sticky thread)
Old 02-03-2009, 05:21 AM
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Originally Posted by Palmo' post='783918' date='Feb 3 2009, 06:48 AM
Why would your car 'over fuel' because it's been remapped? On certain cars - like Subaru Impreza's this is common (helps with cooling amongst other things as these engine can suffer from piston 3 overheating problems). But why on this type of engine? I would have thought a 'perfect' map would fuel as near to perfect as possible, applying the correct amount of fuel for the given situation, in fact I would have presumed smoke would be decreased as the map would be more 'bespoke' to the individual car?

simple, it overfuels because its been set up for performance, and the fuel/air ratio is biased.
if its set up normally there are no over fueling problems, but im not concerened with economy on this car.

ps: its not common on scoobys either, because type 7 onwards use common rail injection.
and piston 3 problems are only due to the location of the turbo (next to piston 3) resulting in overheating sometimes.
i have 2 fully prepared scoobies.530d - Broken Swirl flap = Broken Engine-photos_051.jpg


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