Swirl Flap Removal
Swirl flaps are designed to create a swirl of air inside the combustion chamber; hence the name swirl flaps, although different manufacturers may describe them as intake manifold flaps. This main purpose of swirl flaps is to ensure the proper mixing of fuel and air at low speeds so by lengthening the route of air entering the cylinder head and swirling the air inside the combustion chamber. This ‘swirling’ of air is supposed to create a better fuel-air mixture and improves efficiency, however in practice the difference they make is negligible.
What are the problems?
Major Mechanical Failure:
Many early BMW’s with swirl flaps were fitted with metal flaps which were prone for failure, the metal screws holding the flap to the spindle would become loose and enter the combustion chamber causing catastrophic engine damage.
Carbon build up:
Carbon from the EGR system along with oil from the breather system causes carbon to build up on the flaps, this reduces the intake manifold size and can hinder performance.
Electronic actuators:
Modern manifold designs are controlled by an electronic actuator which opens and closes the flaps. These actuators can fail, along with the position sensors and often the arm that moves the flaps can break as a result of the carbon build up making the flaps difficult to move. This can result in the flaps staying in the closed position bring on an engine management light and in some cases limp mode.
The Solution...
We have created a software solution to remove the function of swirl flaps from a vehicles Engine Control Unit, we call this a Swirl Flap Delete. Our Swirl Flap delete does not involve physically removing the swirl flaps, this is only a software solution and would leave the flaps in the open position. Our Swirl flap delete will solve faults leading to the engine management light being present on your dashboard and in some cases limp home mode being activated.
In the case of early BMW's with swirl flaps we would 100% recommend fully removing the flaps to ensure they do not break up and enter the combustions chambers.
