BMW 320d - swirl flaps

BMW 320d - swirl flaps

Author
Discussion

exBMWfan

Original Poster:

2 posts

162 months

Sunday 3rd October 2010
quotequote all
Our 320d failed recently as a result of the failure of a swirl flap in the inlet manifold.
Part of the valve fell into the cylinder and it was ruined. The car had done about 103,000 miles.
I raised this with BMW who essentially said this fault was very unusual and 103,000 in 7 years was quite reasonable.
Any views from others??

mikey-r

408 posts

197 months

Sunday 3rd October 2010
quotequote all
It's another BMW "deny all" I'm afraid, just like Vanos issues and buckled wheels.

The swirl flaps issue, unfortunately for the consumer, is a totally random and not mileage/age related (just like Vanos) failure albeit quite a common one. From memory it's only rife on e46 320/330d - especially auto's.

I did take the precaution of having them removed on my 330d @ 74k - upon inspection they were fine, showing no signs of wear or falling apart.

I've suffered the vanos failure on my e39 M5 @ 112k - I've heard of quite a few vanos failures on e39 M5s, e36 M3's and e60 M5's so it would appear that's not just a short manufacturing lead issue which I suspect the swirl flaps were.

Do you have full BMW history? Maybe worth the question of 'goodwill gesture'?


gmarks1

181 posts

224 months

Sunday 3rd October 2010
quotequote all
Is your dealer kidding - there are as yet undiscovered tribes in amazon rain forest who know about the swirl flap issue on the 2 litre diesel engine and that it is a very common problem with well documented solution - just do a search on here or any BMW forum

Edited by gmarks1 on Sunday 3rd October 22:32

gmarks1

181 posts

224 months

Sunday 3rd October 2010
quotequote all
Is your dealer kidding - there are as yet undiscovered tribes in amazon rain forest who know about the swirl flap issue on the 2 litre diesel engine and that it is a very common problem with well documented solution - just do a search on here or any BMW forum

Edited by gmarks1 on Sunday 3rd October 22:34

Frik

13,542 posts

243 months

Sunday 3rd October 2010
quotequote all
They even have their own website: www.swirlflaps.co.uk

exBMWfan

Original Poster:

2 posts

162 months

Thursday 7th October 2010
quotequote all
Guys - that is really valuable information but really concerning. How can they just deny they ahve an issue with this much going on???
How do we let BMW management know or do they already?

Sticks.

8,748 posts

251 months

Thursday 7th October 2010
quotequote all
More to the point, didn't they make a change to the thickness of the swirl flap spindle at some point? Wouldn't have done so if there hadn't been a problem, I'd have thought.

paprika

5,484 posts

167 months

Thursday 7th October 2010
quotequote all
Yes they did do an update on the flaps but no acceptance that there is an issue.

Egbert Nobacon

2,835 posts

243 months

Friday 8th October 2010
quotequote all
www.pmwltd.co.uk

These people manufacture, supply (and fit if required) swirl flap blanking plates which resolve this issue.

Their website has lots of info on the problem.

A much wider issue on the M47TU & M57TU engines than BMW would lead people to believe.

paprika

5,484 posts

167 months

Friday 8th October 2010
quotequote all
I reccomend www.swirlflaps.co.uk

They were in the BMW car magazine and their support is top notch!

Infact they've been mentioned earlier in the post.

Edited by paprika on Friday 8th October 15:33