dodged a bullet - DISA valve disintegrated

nickoneone · Post by **nickoneone** » Wed May 02, 2012 8:40 pm

Was travelling from scotland to east midlands and noticed that the car was idling rough. Then the orange engine warning light came on. Continued for 300 miles with the intention of taking the car into the garage when I got to Lincoln. The indie diagnosed the DISA valve as being faulty and changed it. When he showed me the old one, the flap was almost completely detached and the retaining pin was partially dislodged and ready to fall out.If I had driven a few more miles and the unit had finally blown, the flap and the pin would have been sucked into the engine through the manifold and wrecked it - £4000 - £5000 for new rebuilt head. Is this a known problem?

spearman · Post by **spearman** » Wed May 02, 2012 8:46 pm

Wow! You were close. Yes, known problem. Think it needs checking around 60k. How many fun

miles have you done?

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Stuart Truman · Post by **Stuart Truman** » Wed May 02, 2012 8:48 pm

Unfortunately yes, there are a couple of threads on here. Bing recently posted a pic laden post here on checking them http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic ... SA#p497974

Glad you caught it before it got really nasty

Stromtech · Post by **Stromtech** » Wed May 02, 2012 9:06 pm

Mine was toast before 60K..I suggest a 50K inspection

ranski · Post by **ranski** » Wed May 02, 2012 9:08 pm

yes 50k defo needs an inspection

PS lucky boy!

spearman · Post by **spearman** » Wed May 02, 2012 9:26 pm

Where has everyone bought the replacement from? Mines just about to hit 52k and think I'd rather just replace it if it's cheap.

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ranski · Post by **ranski** » Wed May 02, 2012 9:27 pm

sopers

Stromtech · Post by **Stromtech** » Wed May 02, 2012 9:33 pm

spearman wrote:Where has everyone bought the replacement from? Mines just about to hit 52k and think I'd rather just replace it if it's cheap.

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It's not cheap but significantly cheaper than the repair bill if the metal pin gets into the engine. At your mileage I would take a look at it and if it's getting loose then order one sooner than later.

spearman · Post by **spearman** » Wed May 02, 2012 9:36 pm

Think I'll be on the phone to Jamie @ sopers getting a price tomorrow

Not sure it's worth risking a rebuild. :-s

Cheers guys!

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nickoneone · Post by **nickoneone** » Wed May 02, 2012 11:03 pm

Mine cost £126.00 inc vat and indie fitted it for £22.00

Bing · Post by **Bing** » Wed May 02, 2012 11:09 pm

Mine is a facelift though, and as you'll see from my post the investigation I undertook was largely a waste of time

That said, there is a link to shipkiller's thread for pre-facelifts in my post.

If the replacement is the 'upgraded' DISA then I reckon it's been redesigned and is unlikely to fragment into the engine, so worth the £126. Also worth the indi install unless you can just do these things yourself. Took me ages to figure it all out

Lucky escape though - really fortunate you got it diagnosed so fast

chrisj900 · Post by **chrisj900** » Wed May 02, 2012 11:17 pm

aint there a video on youtube on how to change this part!!

Bing · Post by **Bing** » Wed May 02, 2012 11:19 pm

chrisj900 wrote:aint there a video on youtube on how to change this part!!

Probably, but I am An Explorer. And so cack-handed I'd have knocked my iPad off the car and smashed it. It's not rocket science, I just know next to nothing about how an engine is put together.

spearman · Post by **spearman** » Wed May 02, 2012 11:20 pm

chrisj900 wrote:aint there a video on youtube on how to change this part!!

yep. Found it. Looks straight forward. It's going to have to wait until the 25th (payday) though.

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Stromtech · Post by **Stromtech** » Wed May 02, 2012 11:28 pm

Only 1 wiring connector, 2 torx bolts and about 10 minutes time...not much to figure out. It's easily assessable.

And from everything I have read the only changes made to the DISA were for the N52 engine. The M54 still uses the original DISA design and should be inspected at 50K. My new one on my 3.0i M54 (2 months ago) still had the same design with the same metal pin.

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