[gqbriel]

,
HI All,

Long story short - I had to replace the oil separator and to reach to it I had to remove the intake manifold completely.When i managed to get it out of the car we heard some noises inside it like something was broken.
Well we removed the 2 DISA valves and it turned out the Large one into pieces.
In the past I used to have few errors reading it with Rheingold : "variable intake" and it turned out its not working at all.My car is E90 330xiA EU specs 258bhp

These are the old to new part id:

11 61 7 522 929 - 109,00 €
11 61 7 560 537 - 116,50 €
11 61 7 579 114 - 173,09 € they have increased the price at least in EU.


Number 2 is the large one



I know that there we repair kits for the M54b30 engine but none for the N52B30 engine so I started to dig deeper and lucky me I have found a repair kit


Thats the mechanical inside :



You can see in this pic that actual Valve is wobbling around ,when i removed the intake it was separated from this part


So in order to fix it i had to cut it and take it apart,it took me some time as it is really hard plastic and I had to be really carefull not braking anything.At the end it turned out just perfectly



Most of the times the broken part is the gear itself but in my case it was the axis going trough the Disa.



here we can see where exactly was broken ,also something else you can where the Valve sits on the axis and this part is well-worn









This is how the valve stays on the axis





The well-worn part





Something important in the DISA itself there is a small amount of oil probably around 30ml.

Now to the repair ,a little comparison NEW vs OEM

Repair kit ОЕМ

aluminum axis plastic
aluminum gear plastic
aluminum valve plastic

A note here ,I know that in 2008 BWM changed the axis with aluminum instrad of plastic one

That is what was included in the package



1- о ring
2 - the aluminum axis
3 - the new Valve
4 - the gear that moves the valve

You can see the difference between the new and the old ones


In the reapir kit the axis is a separate part from the gear ,OEM - they are a single part



OLD vs New axis and gears





The new O-ring



Assembled





The last part is to insert it into the manifold and thats all - i have done some diagnostic to see if the valve operates properly and it does..no rattling noises,the car pulls differently in low RPM ,the engine became much smoother and quiter.I hope it will help someone

[CobraMarty]

Great post.
Is there a part number for this kit? Where to buy?

[hassmaschine]

great work! yeah, where did you get the kit? I guess we know it's from England - wouldn't be too bad to pick one up and have it for when the big disa eventually wears out. So far mine is fine. BMW just loves to use cheap plastic in places that plastic has no business..

[gqbriel]

Originally Posted by hassmaschine

great work! yeah, where did you get the kit? I guess we know it's from England - wouldn't be too bad to pick one up and have it for when the big disa eventually wears out. So far mine is fine. BMW just loves to use cheap plastic in places that plastic has no business..

Thanks hass!
I bought it from UK yes - i6automotive ,the most interesting part was it wasn't listed in their official side so i just called them.

[gqbriel]

Originally Posted by CobraMarty

Great post.
Is there a part number for this kit? Where to buy?

These are the guys,extremely helpful over the phone.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aluminium-...3D161027574098

[Phil325i]

Interesting post OP. While you had the manifold off, did you check if the smaller valve (No 2 in your picture) was similarly affected?

[gqbriel]

Originally Posted by Phil325i

Interesting post OP. While you had the manifold off, did you check if the smaller valve (No 2 in your picture) was similarly affected?

yes i did check it- it was in more than perfect condition

[Three_thirty_I]

Great work! It is shocking how cheaply made (materials) most of the components are in our cars, that were not all cheap to buy!

[kkasson]

Interesting design...on the E46 DISA, the flap was attached to the cage with a metal pin at the top. The pin could come loose, and if you removed the DISA then the pin would often fall inside the intake. It looks like on this one the flap is just held in place by the axis and there's nothing to break off and go in the intake, is that right? Good to know!

[gqbriel]

Originally Posted by kkasson

Interesting design...on the E46 DISA, the flap was attached to the cage with a metal pin at the top. The pin could come loose, and if you removed the DISA then the pin would often fall inside the intake. It looks like on this one the flap is just held in place by the axis and there's nothing to break off and go in the intake, is that right? Good to know!

Actually,there is nothing to brake now,but before that it was in pieces inside the intake...
The two parts that where wobbling around inside when I took off the intake were the plastic axis and the flap itself..
If i remember properly in M54 the biggest issue with the disa is the gear mechanism inside it which gets worn out with the time.

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by Three_thirty_I

Great work! It is shocking how cheaply made (materials) most of the components are in our cars, that were not all cheap to buy!

Germans are surprisingly cheap and not surprisingly smart. They win, again.

[gqbriel]

Originally Posted by tlow98

Germans are surprisingly cheap and not surprisingly smart. They win, again.

Honestly I dont think so,but the whole theme will go in another direction.

[Three_thirty_I]

It's not so much BMW or the Germans, all car makers tend to use some or other form of cheap materials these days, and cars as with other products they are made to only last a certain amount of time - they want you to buy their new cars or products whether it be a BMW or a toaster. The fact that these things cost so much to begin with, and then the cost of the replacement parts also being so hefty is where the sick joke continues!

[gqbriel]

Originally Posted by Three_thirty_I

It's not so much BMW or the Germans, all car makers tend to use some or other form of cheap materials these days, and cars as with other products they are made to only last a certain amount of time - they want you to buy their new cars or products whether it be a BMW or a toaster. The fact that these things cost so much to begin with, and then the cost of the replacement parts also being so hefty is where the sick joke continues!

With that said - I tend to agree with you.I am not sure about the US market but I know for sure that BMW in EU has stopped selling brand new parts like :water pump,fuel pumps,alternators they sell only refurbished and the only way to have a true new one is with a new car (that was shared with us from a local dealer).
Another thing (also not sure for US market) the price are going higher when the model reaches 5 years ,i can give you tons of parts which were 100$ and after 3 months they were 300$..like the N54 injectors from 120% now they are 250$ and so on.
We have to get used to the fact that there will be no more E30 and MB 124 - strong and durable...its all just business.

[Three_thirty_I]

That's crazy, refurbished parts rather than new parts?! I can understand that being an option, but to only have that and not proper new parts is mad. Well with regards to parts prices, over here in SA BMW parts prices are silly expensive generally, and certainly more expensive compared to the US market when you do a simple exchange rate conversion. And this means that even relatively simple things are quite expensive here.

[gqbriel]

Originally Posted by Three_thirty_I

That's crazy, refurbished parts rather than new parts?! I can understand that being an option, but to only have that and not proper new parts is mad.

Trust me i reacted the same when ordered a friend of mine from an official dealer petrol pump for a 335i...

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by gqbriel

With that said - I tend to agree with you.I am not sure about the US market but I know for sure that BMW in EU has stopped selling brand new parts like :water pump,fuel pumps,alternators they sell only refurbished and the only way to have a true new one is with a new car (that was shared with us from a local dealer).
Another thing (also not sure for US market) the price are going higher when the model reaches 5 years ,i can give you tons of parts which were 100$ and after 3 months they were 300$..like the N54 injectors from 120% now they are 250$ and so on.
We have to get used to the fact that there will be no more E30 and MB 124 - strong and durable...its all just business.

There they go being cheap and smart. How dare they?

[pao_e90]

Hello. Sorry for reviving an old thread. I have the same issue with my Big DISA on my N51. I ordered the repair kit but I noticed that the green rubber around the flap is already broken (some parts have missing rubber). Could this cause an issue? The rubber seal from to the manifold looks ok btw. Thanks!

[gqbriel]

Originally Posted by pao_e90

Hello. Sorry for reviving an old thread. I have the same issue with my Big DISA on my N51. I ordered the repair kit but I noticed that the green rubber around the flap is already broken (some parts have missing rubber). Could this cause an issue? The rubber seal from to the manifold looks ok btw. Thanks!

Hi,
No worries - the green rubber is mostly important for the actual flap - some air might pass thourgh it but nothing that will impact the performance when repaired.
Actually there is no seal between the intake and the valve except at the bottom where it sits.

[esevx5]

Bringing this back up
How is the DISA valve holding up?

Did you have to glue back the assembly?

[juld0zer]

I bought a second hand manifold to harvest DISA valves but both the small ones have missing rubber sections in the area where the flap strikes when it closes. Both large ones are ok

[gqbriel]

Originally Posted by esevx5

Bringing this back up
How is the DISA valve holding up?

Did you have to glue back the assembly?

Since the change running like a charm