M47 diesel: the swirl flap comes loose and gets into the cylinder
Typically above 120,000 km. It does not show up on every car.
critical
severity
above 120,000 km
mileage
2
sources
2 sources next to the write-up.
The fault
How you spot it
The fastening of the swirl flaps in the intake works loose from the vibration of the engine, and a flap can come away. From there it gets through the intake into the cylinder, and takes the piston and the valves with it, so the cost of the repair ranges from the price of a flap to an engine rebuild. The older units with metal flaps are the most dangerous. The symptoms are a rough idle, a loss of power and occasional juddering, with the code P2015 in the fault memory. On the M47TU2 this is the most common case. Prevention comes in two forms. Either a reinforced flap is fitted, aluminium or assembled with thread-locking, or the flaps are taken out and blanking plates go in their place. The second is the more radical one and takes the risk to zero; many workshops recommend it, and the airflow does not suffer from it either.
Which model
Who it affects
The card opens the generation, the engine or the transmission.
Engines and transmissions
Engine
M47D20
Engine
M47D20TU
Engine
M47D20TU2
Checklist
M47 diesel: the swirl flap comes loose and gets into the cylinder
What you would check for this fault. Take it to the car.
Before you buy
Checklist
What you tick stays on this device only.
Sources
How we know
Motorzentrale BlogBMW M47 Motorprobleme: Symptome, Ursachen, LösungenDie häufigsten Probleme beim BMW M47-Motor lassen sich frühzeitig erkennen und beheben – bevor es richtig teuer wird. Besonders die Motorvarianten M47D20 und M47TU (z. B. im E46, E87 oder E90) neigen zu bekannten Schwächen, die mit der Zeit auftreten können. Am anfälligsten sind: Drallklappen im Ansaugtrakt Turbolader und Ladeluftsystem AGR-Ventil und Ansaugbrücke Injektoren der Common-Rail-Einspritzung […]
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Information, not an expert opinion
We write the descriptions, and we put the source next to them. A person reviews them before they go out. They are still information, not a technical expert opinion.
- A fault on the list does not mean the car you are looking at has it.
- A fault missing from the list does not mean the model is fault-free. Write-ups are made model by model. Not all of them are done.
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