Swirl flap removal
What are Swirl Flaps?
Swirl flaps are a BMW designed system within the air intake of the engine (inlet manifold) to aid cylinder combustion and efficiency. Diesels do not have throttle plates to regulate air/fuel mix, so naturally tend to run between lean and rich conditions controlled solely by the fuel injection via the engine’s digital diesel management system (DDE. It is not unusual for BMW diesel engines which were produced between 2000 and 2008 to develop swirl flap problems caused by fixings becoming detached. These are used inside the inlet manifold of the BMW M47TU & M57TU diesel engines to vary the length of inlet manifold tract subject to engine load and demand. Unfortunately swirlflaps are also a bit of a design flaw and responsible for many destroyed engines and expensive repairs due the flaps becoming loose from their fixings and metal parts of the swirlflap are ingested into the cylinder of the engine causing catastrophic damage. What will happen if they Fail?
If the swirl flap itself or even the small fixing screw that connects it to the spindle falls off it will then be sucked into the engine and in most cases one or more of the pistons ends up being severely damaged along with several valves, an injector and the cylinder head, with the possibility of additional damage spreading to the turbo which can result in enormous repair costs running into thousands of pounds. What can be done?
The solution is to remove the swirlflaps and fit blanking plates, performance change is minimal and probably no difference will be noticed and the car will still pass a MOT and drive as normal. You can buy a new inlet manifold BUT you still have the potential for the same problem to occur. The easiest and cheapest solution is to use our bespoke manufactured blanking plates, the plates will fit in place of the current mechanism, there is no modification required! The plates are manufactured to the highest possible standards from aluminium. The engine will function exactly the same without the swirl flaps, so you will not notice a change or loss of performance.
Swirl flaps are a BMW designed system within the air intake of the engine (inlet manifold) to aid cylinder combustion and efficiency. Diesels do not have throttle plates to regulate air/fuel mix, so naturally tend to run between lean and rich conditions controlled solely by the fuel injection via the engine’s digital diesel management system (DDE. It is not unusual for BMW diesel engines which were produced between 2000 and 2008 to develop swirl flap problems caused by fixings becoming detached. These are used inside the inlet manifold of the BMW M47TU & M57TU diesel engines to vary the length of inlet manifold tract subject to engine load and demand. Unfortunately swirlflaps are also a bit of a design flaw and responsible for many destroyed engines and expensive repairs due the flaps becoming loose from their fixings and metal parts of the swirlflap are ingested into the cylinder of the engine causing catastrophic damage. What will happen if they Fail?
If the swirl flap itself or even the small fixing screw that connects it to the spindle falls off it will then be sucked into the engine and in most cases one or more of the pistons ends up being severely damaged along with several valves, an injector and the cylinder head, with the possibility of additional damage spreading to the turbo which can result in enormous repair costs running into thousands of pounds. What can be done?
The solution is to remove the swirlflaps and fit blanking plates, performance change is minimal and probably no difference will be noticed and the car will still pass a MOT and drive as normal. You can buy a new inlet manifold BUT you still have the potential for the same problem to occur. The easiest and cheapest solution is to use our bespoke manufactured blanking plates, the plates will fit in place of the current mechanism, there is no modification required! The plates are manufactured to the highest possible standards from aluminium. The engine will function exactly the same without the swirl flaps, so you will not notice a change or loss of performance.