How to change Swirl Flaps, on Diesel BMW I am now going to show you how i did it on my car. May'sedition of Total BMW (still in WHSmiths) did a cover on how to change and modify Swirl flaps on a 330d engine, so if you can get hold of that copy, itmay be more helpful than this guide. You will need a fairly decent tool collection, something that will have different type head fittings and bits that can fit in tight areas. OK, before we start i need to say the following: *****I have performed the maintainace myself and i am comfortable with my ability to do so and i can not be held responsible if you damage your vehicle in an event to follow my guide.***** I will be using some information from other post which i have obtained go-ahead to use. Make sure you do not use excessive force and try to keep bolts and screws close as you dont want them falling down to the florr pan and waste time and patience trying to look for them
1. Disconnect the battery: On the left side of the engine will the battery connector. You will need a 19mm socket to take the main bolt off:
And then a 10mm socket to take the smaller bolt off: Pull the smaller wire through the hole and leave for later.
2. Removing all the engine panels: What i did first was to remove the pollen filter panel in-front of the windscreen: Undo the 3 clips, one on each side and one on the front. Once undone, they will spring up and then you can lift the panel:
Pull the panel out and take the filter out:
You will see 4 T30 (Torx30) screws which will need to be unscrewed.
Once done so, unclip the 2 black clips holding on the the panel. Put you finger underneath and lift slightly and they should upclip.
If you to, you can seperate the 2 holders running across. Simply slide the front holder to the left and it will unclip: Once the holders are off, you can lift the panel out:
Where the last panel was mounted, you will see another panel held in by 2 T30 screws either side and 1 plastic clip on the right side of the panel. Unscrew the 2 screws (first pic) and softly unscrew the clip (pic 2) and try to pull the panel away being careful not to drop the clip: From there, carefully lift the panel out as there is a metal clip at the bottom of the panel which could damage something if your not too careful.
Now for the front and rear engine covers. In the Front Cover there are 5 bolts (5mm hex) holding the cover on. 2 at the front, 2 at the back and one on the right side near the coolant cap.: I didnt take any pics of taking the rear cover sorry but it is simple. There a 3 5mm hex bolts, 2 on top of the cover and the other down the right rear side. You will also need to need to unclip and cable as well.
3. Taking the manifold out: When you have taken the cover out, you will see the a string of cables mounted down by 3 8mm star socket bolts. Take these out like so:
once out, unplug the 4 connectors: Pull them to one side and leave for later. You will now need to take the bolts out of the manifold. There are 8 10mm bolts which need to taken out:
Once undone, see where i now have the socket in picture 2, there are 5 thin 10mm nuts which have to be undone. Be careful not to drop them and if you can have a magnet nearby:
When you have done that, you will now need to take the EGR valve off. You can clean this at the same time but down to you. The EGR valve is at the front right part of the manifold and looks like:
On the side of the EGR valve is a small pipe which can be taken off easily by hand or with the assistance of a small flat head scredriver: You might want to put some masking tape around it and write down where you took it off. You will need a T20 head to unscrew the cable mount:
You will need a flat head screw driver to undo the fron jubilee clip: Pull the clip back and unscrew the other but uncrew it completely so it can be moved past the bend:
With the screwdriver, carefully prise the large pipe away:
Using the 5mm hex head, there are 4 bolts holding the EGR valve to the manifold. The top 2 are easy but be careful not to drop the bottom 2: When the bolts come out, the EGR valve should look like this:
Put to one side and go back to the manifold. Where the dipstick it, there is a 8 or 9mm bolt holding the bracket in place, undo it but be warned, its niggly:
Behind the dipstick mount there will be a cable mounted to the manifold, unclip it from underneath and pull the cable out: Around the back of the manifold, there is another connector which is grey which will need disconnecting. Make sure you reconnect it when rebuilding as you car will not have no power (ask Slowtech) From here, its a b*stard!! Im not going to lie but if you need a brew, go and get now as your patiences is definately needed.
Now that you are all refreshed, you need to lift the manifold up, it wont come out as the are 2 valves/sensors mounted underneath. If you can unclip the valve, that is better, but if like me you can unclip everything and remount later: From the pictures, each valve has a connector and 2 pipes. I pulled the pipes off and took the metal pins out to disconnect the connectors. Be careful with the clips as you dont want to loose them!!
Once off, you should be able to lift the manifold off, turn it over: At this point i managed to unclip the 2 valves and reconnect them to the engine as i thought it would easier to remount. On the manifold will the the rail that controls the valves, on the right side, light prise the rail fron its clips:
Using the T20 head, unscrew the 2 screws: Once done, pull the rail and motor off being careful not to break it. You should be ablt to see the flaps now, unscrew the 2 screws either side:
And prise away the flap: Once out they will look like this:
Mine where in good condition but they may not be the cause with others. With the caps, they did not come with the rubber seals so i prised the old ones off and cleaned them up and mounted them on the caps:
And then, once done, screwed back in: and reversed the process to rebuild the engine. Mine runs as it was and i am now happy that i done it, especially by myself. I hope you found this useful and i hope it serves you well. Cheers