Freelander 2 (LR2) Removing the Swirl Flaps - What's best?

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parxuk

Member
Posts
76
Location
Bristol
I'm going to get my mechanic neighbour to remove the swirl flaps from my 2009 130k FL2.

Going to follow the instructions Arctic2 put on Nodge's recent FL2 resurection thread, which basically just looks like snapping the plastic flaps off the flap rod.

Is that all there is to it?

Neighbour was wondering if there are any gaskets or other items we need to replace at the same time?

Thanks as always.
 
parxuk said:
Going to follow the instructions Arctic2 put on Nodge's recent FL2 resurection thread, which basically just looks like snapping the plastic flaps off the flap rod.
Click to expand...

I'd remove them, simply because my inlet manifold was dated 2009, on a 2008 vehicle, along with a reconditioned cylinder head. So this lead me to believe that the head work was needed, due to a broken flap damaging a valve or two.

Unfortunately the bozo who did the work dropped a nut in to the intake (it was an EGR pipe I think), so the engine got damaged again, all for a swirl flap (it's actually a port deactivation flap).

It took me all of 5 minutes to remove them, but getting the manifold off is a good hours work.

I removed the flaps by snapping them off the thin control rod, then simply pulling the the control rod out the manifold. This was easy to do, and only required the operating lever clip be removed, then refitted again, once the control rod was removed from the lever.

If the O ring seals are damaged, then they need replacing, but if they're ok, then they can be reused.
 
I decided to take a look at a spare manifold i had, with reference to the flaps being removed above, it seems that one flap had broken off on the manifold i have, so i was thinking is it only one that breaks when the flaps give out ?
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First three flaps are plain to see.
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The last one 4th is missing
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The flap rod is connected to the diaphragm with a ball and ring socket.
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Pop the ring off the ball
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Pry up the metal clip holding the rod into the manifold.
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keep this safe.
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The rod joining and holding the flaps in place, can now be slide outwards.
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The rod is a square brass metal type.
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With the rod removed the flaps just pop out of the manifold easy, there is quite a lot of carbon gunk build up on them so no wonder they get damaged if they are hard to move, also being plastic.
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You can see from this photo the end flap is missing so must have broken off on the FL2 this came from.
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You can see the flaps get damaged on the ends due to plastic on metal, and start to wear/split on the edges.
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I am in the process of cleaning this out which i hopefully will finish tomorrow.
 
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I pulled the rod out of the control lever, so it's no in mine at all. I wanted to avoid an issue if the rod broke off, as that would also damage the engine. :eek:
 
Nodge68 said:
I pulled the rod out of the control lever, so it's no in mine at all. I wanted to avoid an issue if the rod broke off, as that would also damage the engine. :eek:
Click to expand...

HI John.
Yes i did the same therefore i should remove the post about you could leave the rod in place :oops: the manifold is all cleaned and dried out now, i just have to find time to fit it, as i have been making sure everything was in order for its MOT which it passed last Friday without any advisories.

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May i ask a question for future reference, at what sort of milage is this fault occurring, and how can you tell if the flaps are deteriorating part from stripping the manifold down (if there is a way)?
 
Cleverer people than me will answer, but I think the problem is it could happen at almost any age and mileage (given how long the FL2 has been out now, I think any vehicle has the potential for failure).

I dont think you can tell until the Manifold is off, and by the time you've done that, you might as well remove them.

The option is to gamble on a potentially ticking time bomb, that could ruin ruin your engine.

I think better safe than sorry, and get them removed. They dont seem to serve any real useful purpose anyway.
 
Snaggapuss said:
May i ask a question for future reference, at what sort of milage is this fault occurring, and how can you tell if the flaps are deteriorating part from stripping the manifold down (if there is a way)?
Click to expand...

Mine has a replacement head at 119400 miles, which I'm presuming was due to valve damage, caused by a broken flap.
Unfortunately the person doing the work, shouldn't have been doing it, so more serious damage was caused after it was reassembled.

I don't think a mileage can be put on failure though, but it's best to remove them, before they can cause damage.
 
If the swirl flap rod is removed from the inlet manifold - two questions.....
Are there any bearings carrying the rod which could now slip out and get ingested? if so should not they be removed?
Do the resultant holes between inlet ports make any difference at all?
 
dfossil said:
two questions...
Click to expand...
I like questions.;)
dfossil said:
Are there any bearings carrying the rod which could now slip out and get ingested?
Click to expand...
No. No bearings, just a simple hole where the rod passes through.
dfossil said:
Do the resultant holes between inlet ports make any difference at all?
Click to expand...
Not really, as the ports are all joined up a few inches away anyway, as there fed from a single boost pipe.
 
GrumpyGel said:
It might give a bit of 'swirl' though
Click to expand...

The port flaps aren't swirl flaps, but port deactivation flaps. These open when more power is needed. The swirl ports are open all the time, the swirl being reduced when the port deactivation flaps open up.

It was all pointless, as they were done away with after 2011 anyway.
 
It's a good question which I was tempted to ask, because on a BMW 5 series diesel I had a few years ago, when the swirl flaps were removed you had to fit blanking plates in their place.
 
parxuk said:
It's a good question which I was tempted to ask, because on a BMW 5 series diesel I had a few years ago, when the swirl flaps were removed you had to fit blanking plates in their place.
Click to expand...

The BMW system is much more hassle to remove. The DW12 is easy to do away with, as the same manifold is used for flaps or no flaps, so if you want to remove the flaps, you simply remove them, and put the operating lever back in to block the hole.
 
I'm looking into Freelander 2 and coming from the Alfa Romeo.
Would not be sufficient to just fix flaps in the correct position? That is how you can do it on some FIAT JTD engines. Only disconnect the rod from the motor and fix the position. The motor can move freely and everybody is happy. :) You do not have remove the manifold at all.
 
Bican said:
I'm looking into Freelander 2 and coming from the Alfa Romeo.
Would not be sufficient to just fix flaps in the correct position? That is how you can do it on some FIAT JTD engines. Only disconnect the rod from the motor and fix the position. The motor can move freely and everybody is happy. :) You do not have remove the manifold at all.
Click to expand...

The port deactivation flaps (often called swirl flaps) are made of horrible brittle plastic, which is weakened by the heat and contamination from the EGR assembly. Simply locking them open all the time might reduce the chance of them breaking, but removal is the only way to eliminate the issue altogether.
 
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