Swirly flaps on the OM642, A Bit of help please...

[monkeh]

I notice another member on here is having similar issues to me,
I recently overhauled the sooty mucky mess on my 300c's inlet manifold. Swirl flaps were sooted up with some of the manifold blocked with a 15mm sooty hole breathing into one of the cylinders. God knows how it ran tidy.
So... 12 cans of carb cleaner and a hot degreasing bath for the inlet manifolds later, Its all buttoned up back together with the EGR blanked off pending removal by remap guy. Swirl flaps jammed open (bar one, I broke the linkage) and resistor fitted. Ran lovely for a few weeks until I accelerate... 60mph, Brick wall, Turbo stops, Deep drone and no boost. Ignition off and back on, Itll run great. 0-60-80, whatever, It runs perfect AFTER ignition off.

My conclusion is maybe I botched up jamming the swirl flaps open. I have a friend who has exactly the same issue, who has confirmed that he has had a botched job on his swirl flaps...

Now, My question... Physical removal of these flaps are in the line, With 3 of us lining up to rip these ****** things out. Has anyone removed these from the OM642 engine with any adverse affects on drivability and fault codes?

I know what they do, with side effects of smoke low end acceleration, But with the 3 of us running remapped cars, it wont be an issue.
Thanks all...

 

[monkeh]

Anyone? Well, Development, I will be biting the bullet and getting them removed and the 'oles welded up. Had a nice chap that said that the shaft holes can be welded up.

 

[oigle]

A blanked off egr does not work well on these. It will defo cause limp mode. Needs to be properly done. Doubt your swirl flaps have anything to do with it - you could always check the linkage to see if still held open.

 

[monkeh]

Yes, The blanked EGR triggered limp home mode on cruise control, but nothing more than a check engine light when running normally. One of the linkages on my car was pretty sloppy and snapped on extraction. That particular flap had to be jammed open. I suspect that it partially closed causing accelerating issues. Its going to my mapper on Saturday to have EGR mapped out totally. After that, She's going under the knife for a bit of flap mutilation.

 

[kid-jensen]

Keep us informed, there's a lot of OM642 owners here who will have this problem eventually....

 

[monkeh]

Ok, A report back from my friend, His 'Mechanic' (term used loosely) Tied open his flaps.
2 of which had closed themselves.
1 was partially closed.

His now new 'Mechanic' Has extracted and welded up the holes. Car now runs spot on. He has the grin back.
He told me that, to remove them, Remove the linkage, so that the back side of the flaps can be seen. These are spot welded on, and using a forked tool, The welds can just be popped and the flap will fly into the inlet manifold. The shaft can then be pulled up and the rubber bushes extracted. Tig welding the hole up seals it to the outside world.

I am in the process of getting to my inlet manifold. Took me a bit longer to extract the turbo today. 2 of the 6 copper bolts began tearing themselves to bits.

If I get chance, I will take pictures to show my findings.

 

[abazem]

I would be grateful for swirl flap removal instructions (including resistor mod) as I intend to do the same on my E270 CDI. I am thinking of buying a new inlet manifold but I'll wait for your experience before taking the plunge.
Thanks

 

[monkeh]

Well yesterday, Whipped it all apart. One flap was closed. Others fine. I am amazed that how much black gunge has accumulated since I cleaned it out previously. EGR now is mapped out so no more of that.
Swirl flaps were extracted quite easily. Channel grip pliers x2, one on the actuator arm, and one on the flap. Flex, flex and flex the arm, They will rip off the weld. The inners and the bushes come out with the shaft. You need to remove the white shaft support clip.

A trip to an aluminium welder and 10 minutes, both holes welded up on each flap port. A good steam clean and itll be going back together today.

As for the resistor, A 4.7k ohm resistor, 0.5 watt. Inserted in the middle 2 pins will satisfy the ECU. I intend on replacing the motor as my intake wasn't leaking. The actuator arms can flail to their hearts content. I did have the resistor fitted, but as I do give the engine bay a degrease and wash from time to time, that is a point that isn't sealed.

Some pics incoming when I start.

 

[Wighty]

Looking forward to the pics . Interesting write up thanks .

 

[monkeh]

I am happy(ish) to report that the swirl flap removal is a success, Coupled with a failure of an exhaust pressure sensor on the manifold, My fault. The sensor obviously didn't like steam, the chemical bath and all the heat it was subject to.
The motor was refitted as it looks like the flaps are still there so the arms can swing away to their hearts content.

Drivability? No noticeable bogging down, or smoke. I did have an amount of smoke initially, but that cleared after a good rev; no return of smoke.

In the meantime, within 5 miles of a good run back and forth, my alternator has thrown in the towel. So its all back apart while I pull that out. I hate to say, that until I get the drive to write up about the car, Pics are on hold for a how to. I really feel like towing it into a field and torching the ****** thing! Desire on this beast may be rekindled after I fit that alternator.
A few pics of the welded up manifolds to show whats been done so far.

 

[Wighty]

Excellent write up again thanks . What mileage did your car have , and did you take any pics of how blocked the manifolds were when you removed them ?

 

[Steve@Avantgarde]

Seems like an awful lot of messing about to me....

 

[monkeh]

128K, The past few years I've owned it, Its been run hard, I know it was a bit OTT. But reading about the flaps and knowing the options, I thought I would try it. Also one of the linkages was worn so I was already committed.
Given it a proper performance run today and it does feel like a new beast. Back in love with it again!

 

[Wighty]

Wow you weren't kidding that is a sludgy mess around those swirl flaps

 

[LostKiwi]

None of those ports look great... In fact the round swirl flap ones look better than the square ones!

 

[pt-pro]

Please, see how swirl flaps can be improved