One quick tip for the job. The lower bolts for the manifold and the filter housing bracket are cleverly hidden but they are there so don't force anything off. They will come away if you find all the bolts. I had to use a mirror to see one of them. A small socket set will get in there.

oh...thank you for the tip!
very kind

chieftiff wrote:

One quick tip for the job. The lower bolts for the manifold and the filter housing bracket are cleverly hidden but they are there so don't force anything off. They will come away if you find all the bolts. I had to use a mirror to see one of them. A small socket set will get in there.

Job done

4 hours in total

Hi all, after the recent cold weather and failing to start at -5°C I have today (yesterday) replaced my glow plugs. As I chose to remove the intake manifold to do this I also removed the swirl flaps at the same time. Nothing unusual in the job and well documented earlier in this post and others. Although the frequent hail showers were an added challenge.

However, before starting I decided to check if the flaps were actually working. From the video earlier in this post it looked to me that the flaps/ports are open when the actuator arm is towards the engine (this was confirmed once the manifold was removed). This is the position the arm is in with engine off. You can move the arm away from the engine but it returns on a spring inside the vacuum actuator.

Started engine and there was no movement in the arm position. Had a neighbour rev the engine for me and still no movement. Assuming something was not working, I gently pushed the arm away from the engine when on tick-over. Arm was immediately pulled away from my finger away from the engine and stayed there. This now had closed the flaps/ports and also resulted in a fairly loud clattering sound from the manifold. Neighbour revved the engine again and as soon as revs hit 1,500 rpm the arm was released and returned to original open position. Let the revs drop to 750 rpm and nothing happens stays towards engine.

My assumption is that the actuator is faulty but the solenoid vacuum valve is operating. This was sort of confirmed when examining the removed brass rod which showed almost no signs of wear nor any damage to the swirl flaps.
One thing I am now quite sure of is that disabling/blocking the vacuum line will leave the flaps permanently open. Following a test drive I could feel no difference in performance as I would expect as my flaps have probably been open since I have owned the car.

Hope this makes some sense. Regards, JGH99. Freelander 2 GS Stornoway Grey
Jan 2007 Bought 71,000 miles. Currently 149,300 miles.

Interesting! When refitting, did you reconnect the vacuum line or disconnect and block it off? 2005 D3 2.7 Auto
Previously:
2010 MY FL2 TD4e GS - Now gone at 199,500 miles, about 135,000 of them mine.
‘93 Defender 110 200TDi CSW
‘87 Defender 90 4 cyl Petrol
‘83 110 CSW V8 - best ever!
Range Rover 2-door V8 (not sure of year - 4-speed box and vacuum diff switch)
Series III SWB Diesel

Hi, I left it connected as it doesn't work anyway. I will blank it off soon. I'd had enough after six hours in the hail and rain.

I did blank off temporarily with the top of a pen just to make sure it was not affecting braking power. Will find a more elegant solution for permanent fix. I want it to look original.

I might also dismantle the actuator to find out what was faulty.

Cheers, JGH99 Freelander 2 GS Stornoway Grey
Jan 2007 Bought 71,000 miles. Currently 149,300 miles.

Thanks, it’s on my list for a warm summer day! 2005 D3 2.7 Auto
Previously:
2010 MY FL2 TD4e GS - Now gone at 199,500 miles, about 135,000 of them mine.
‘93 Defender 110 200TDi CSW
‘87 Defender 90 4 cyl Petrol
‘83 110 CSW V8 - best ever!
Range Rover 2-door V8 (not sure of year - 4-speed box and vacuum diff switch)
Series III SWB Diesel

Hi,

I have to make a decission about leave or cut my swirl flaps and I really don't know what to do.
I had a check engine light... errors about manifold etc. I took off turbo and give them to verification. One of the pipe had the hole... So this should cause the errors.

EGR is cleaning now. So what do You advice me? Should I cut swirl flaps now when I have the manifold removed?
Any problems with check engine after this operation? https://www.instagram.com/halotuswiat/

Hi Tzablo, There have been no problems with my car since removing the swirl flaps.

In fact over a few hundred miles the car slowly became more responsive. I guess as the ECU adjusted slightly.

Also, on a recent motorway run to London, I got far better fuel consumption. (50mpg rather then the usual 45mpg.)

I wait to see on emissions at next test but many have made this change with no issues.

Cheers, JGH99. Freelander 2 GS Stornoway Grey
Jan 2007 Bought 71,000 miles. Currently 149,300 miles.

I have to do some adaptation after cutting off? https://www.instagram.com/halotuswiat/

I believe you need to remove the swirl flaps and the brass pipe then seal the ends of the manifold where the pipe went in. I tracked down a later manifold without the flaps so didn’t have to do this. I was quite surprised how good the manifold was at 10 years/100k miles the flaps move freely and there wasn’t that much build on them.

my mechanic says that my manifold looks ok, flaps move correct too... so I decide to leave that... only cleaning EGR, Manifold etc and investigation my Turbo.

cheers  https://www.instagram.com/halotuswiat/

No, not really.

Once you remove the actuator arm from the manifold you might be lucky enough to pull the brass rod directly out. This makes it much easier to snap the swirl flaps. Mine would not pull out so I had to snap two out then it would move.

Be sure you remove all of each swirl flap as you snap them out. Sometimes the little collars on either side stay in the manifold.

I then put a small amount of high temp silicone gasket sealant on the actuator arm seal and put all back together.

I didn't bother cleaning my manifold out as it was fairly clean as I have blocked my EGR quite some time ago.

Cheers, JGH99. Freelander 2 GS Stornoway Grey
Jan 2007 Bought 71,000 miles. Currently 149,300 miles.

Hi, it's not that they move okay or look clean. It's that they become fragile with the heat from the EGR and break. One of mine snapped of very easily when I removed it.

At the risk of a wrecked engine I cant see why you wouldnt remove while you have it apart.

Up to you though.

Cheers, JGH99 Freelander 2 GS Stornoway Grey
Jan 2007 Bought 71,000 miles. Currently 149,300 miles.

I have to think about it and don't take a risk right now. In July I will start my holiday trip and maybe after that I do this things. I will be drive by 12500km so I can't afford to any check engine errors  https://www.instagram.com/halotuswiat/