E46 320D issues - don't think swirl flaps!!

[JamesHayward]

So my housemate has an E46 320d coupe and recently started playing up. She told me it had lost power and was running really rough. Not knowing much about the inner workings of a diesel I suggested she took it to a local garage who instantly diagnosed it as the dreaded swirl flap issue and quoted her £2000 to get back on the road.

So it's been sat on the drive for a couple of weeks whilst she saves enough cash to get it sorted and today I had to move it. It started no problem at all, had a very lumpy idle but then above 2000 rpm it was smooth as ever and drives completely normally. This doesn't suggest flaps to me as if something was rattling around in the engine it would constantly run like a bag of spanners, which it doesn't.

Had anyone got any suggestions? I know my way around a spanner and am more than competent but I just have no experience on diesels. My thoughts are perhaps a split boost hose or blocked DPF. I'm really not convinced it's the dreaded flaps.

Help? Cheers

James

[waxaholic]

Take the car to another garage for a second opinion, it maybe a minor issue and a cheap fix

[Mr Tidy]

Sorry I cannot suggest possible cause(s) but I don't think E46 diesels had a dpf - my 2004 320td used to leave a big black cloud behind when I floored it!

[stevesingo]

When the injectors went wonky on my wife's 320d, it had a lumpy idle , but ran fine otherwise. Bit smokey, but fine.