My AUC warranty expired on the 16th Sept and I didn't fancy paying the £100 per month to Mondial to continue, so in the interests of preventative maintenance, I had the swirl flaps removed today. Got the blanks from an a Ebay parts supplier for half the cost of those supplied by PMW.
The car is a late 2009 35d and had what is described as improved design flaps. These are plastic rather than the earlier metal ones, but they are still attached to the shaft by two small screws! I understand that the failure rate for these is less, but I didn't want to take the chance.
The flaps were pretty clean after 53k miles. All in all, the cost was £130, well worth it for peace of mind. There doesn't appear to be any difference in performance and it's too early to judge any consumption difference. Is that the general experience?
Not joined yet? Register for free and enjoy features such as alerts, private messaging and viewing latest posts and topics.
Swirl flaps removed.
Re: Swirl flaps removed.
Has made no difference to economy on our E46 with the same engine. The only change I have seen is that it now smokes more on acceleration than it used to.
If the car had a DPF I would be more concerned but with no error codes being recorded and the mpg/acceleration unchanged it looks to be caused by less air being available at lower rpm leading to sooting which clears the first time 'power' is applied.
It only does it once and can be several tens of miles before it happens again, even with spirited driving. Switch back to a more usual relaxed driving style loping along at 1,200rpm and it smokes again as above after about 15 miles. The longer the distance at lower revs, the denser the smoke.
Having had the manifold off again to change the starter a weekend or so back everything looked fine. The swirl flaps were removed 6,000 miles ago.
If the car had a DPF I would be more concerned but with no error codes being recorded and the mpg/acceleration unchanged it looks to be caused by less air being available at lower rpm leading to sooting which clears the first time 'power' is applied.
It only does it once and can be several tens of miles before it happens again, even with spirited driving. Switch back to a more usual relaxed driving style loping along at 1,200rpm and it smokes again as above after about 15 miles. The longer the distance at lower revs, the denser the smoke.
Having had the manifold off again to change the starter a weekend or so back everything looked fine. The swirl flaps were removed 6,000 miles ago.
Never anthropomorphise computers. They hate that.Re: Swirl flaps removed.
Sorry for my lack of knowledge but what x5's need the swirl flaps modifying on. I have a 3.0 xdrive 2010 on 88k milage is this one of them. Thanks in advance
Re: Swirl flaps removed.
All diesels after the E53 are fitted with them. The real problem dates back to the cars from the late 90's and early noughties. Later versions have safer (though there is nothing 100% safe about them) versions.
Removing them is not essential and has to be based on how concerned you are about a failure versus leaving them in place.
Failure will mean engine damage, but the failure rate is much, much lower than it was ten years ago.
They are needed to keep emissions under control.....a 'delicate' issue this week methinks.
Removing them is not essential and has to be based on how concerned you are about a failure versus leaving them in place.
Failure will mean engine damage, but the failure rate is much, much lower than it was ten years ago.
They are needed to keep emissions under control.....a 'delicate' issue this week methinks.
Never anthropomorphise computers. They hate that.Re: Swirl flaps removed.
I spoke to PMW in Essex who are very well versed in swirl flap issues. They said that the failure rate is less with the later flaps, but it does still happen. Their advice was to remove them to be absolutely safe.
Mine were plastic, but still attached to the steel shaft by little steel screws!
Mine were plastic, but still attached to the steel shaft by little steel screws!
Re: Swirl flaps removed.
I got mine done by PMW in December last year when an EGR valve went. Some of the symptoms of the EGR valve failure were similar to a swirl flap sticking, so got them done at the same time.
Performance is near enough identical, and economy has gone up to average 540-550miles on a full tank, up from about 490-510 with my style and routes.
Coincidently, i dropped it into my other local indy about 6 months later for its oil, and he saw the PMW stamp in the book (had some other work done at the same time), and he mentioned that they had a 2005 5 series in that had eaten it's swirl flaps - engine was ruined at 85k.
Performance is near enough identical, and economy has gone up to average 540-550miles on a full tank, up from about 490-510 with my style and routes.
Coincidently, i dropped it into my other local indy about 6 months later for its oil, and he saw the PMW stamp in the book (had some other work done at the same time), and he mentioned that they had a 2005 5 series in that had eaten it's swirl flaps - engine was ruined at 85k.