Bag of plastic spanner’s - N52 Disa

A

AdyBish

Member
 Kent
Hello good people

After a bit of enthusiastic driving today my 3.0 is threw a bit of a hissy fit and I now have an engine management light on. BMW scanner shows an internal fault code BF 191. The inlet side of the engine sounds like a bag spanners. Plastic spanner’s though fortunately. So I’m thinking DISA?

Any experienced heads think it could be anything else? I’ll whip it off tomorrow n check, but is there anything else it could be, or that I should be looking at?

Cheers, Ady.
 
Is it the M54?
If so then got to check that disa first.
Look for air leaks and holes in the inlet pipe while you’re there too.
 
enuff_zed said:
Is it the M54?
If so then got to check that disa first.
Look for air leaks and holes in the inlet pipe while you’re there too.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply.

Apologies I should have said N52. I’ll get a look at the disa and surrounding area as soon as I can. Assuming it is the disa - are the febi made ones any good? They are £148 inc vat and delivery on Autodoc. BMW £300+ I think.

Cheers, Ady.
 
AdyBish said:
enuff_zed said:
Is it the M54?
If so then got to check that disa first.
Look for air leaks and holes in the inlet pipe while you’re there too.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply.

Apologies I should have said N52. I’ll get a look at the disa and surrounding area as soon as I can. Assuming it is the disa - are the febi made ones any good? They are £148 inc vat and delivery on Autodoc. BMW £300+ I think.

Cheers, Ady.
Click to expand...
Ah, ok, I'm not quite so clued up on those tbh.
Hopefully someone with more N52 experience will be able to advise?
 
enuff_zed said:
AdyBish said:
enuff_zed said:
Is it the M54?
If so then got to check that disa first.
Look for air leaks and holes in the inlet pipe while you’re there too.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply.

Apologies I should have said N52. I’ll get a look at the disa and surrounding area as soon as I can. Assuming it is the disa - are the febi made ones any good? They are £148 inc vat and delivery on Autodoc. BMW £300+ I think.

Cheers, Ady.
Click to expand...
Ah, ok, I'm not quite so clued up on those tbh.
Hopefully someone with more N52 experience will be able to advise?
Click to expand...

No problem, thanks anyway :thumbsup:
 
enuff_zed said:
[ref]Street[/ref] may be able to advise?
Or [ref]Bigwinn[/ref]?
Click to expand...

I’ve had a Google. There’s two disas. Doesn’t look too much bother to get to the one that’s on the top of the inlet, the other one that’s under might be a bit trickier. I’ll report back when I’ve had a look.

I did buy a car that I could tinker with so ………. :D
 
Well it’s the disa alright.

IMG-0777.jpg

It must have been wobbling and flapping about all over the place, hence the rattling noise.

It’s not too difficult a job to tackle. Remove the air box, sound generator, and throttle body then it’s accessible at the top of the inlet manifold here;

IMG-0776.jpg

I now need to get to the other disa which is accessible by removing the alternator. George Austers has a good video on you tube showing how https://youtu.be/g6MEvL_xXO4?si=eA13vHugC4nhrsXH

I think I may as well replace that one too whilst I’m in there.

Typically, I found tonight that I don’t have the Torx 60 required to release the alternator belt tensioner! I’ve got every size up to 55 :roll: I’ll pick one up tomorrow and crack on then…..
 
I’ve never actually seen a failed one. That’s bad ☹️. Is yours a black top or silver top engine, and how many miles has it done?
 
Zedebee said:
I’ve never actually seen a failed one. That’s bad ☹️. Is yours a black top or silver top engine, and how many miles has it done?
Click to expand...

Black top, which has done 118,000 miles. I’ve got the smaller disa out via the remove alternator method. It a bit of a squeeze but I think probably better than faffing around removing the inlet manifold?

A short vid to show how bad the disa is;

https://youtu.be/AxNfH_gvegY?si=U1uRWgv9JyIC5dm7

The smaller disa is in better condition with just bits of of the rubber seal missing. It is the original part though I reckon, so I think it best to change it out even if it doesn’t look too bad.

I’ve ordered two Febi disas, a Gates drive belt, and the alternator bolts which are supposedly single use. I can’t quite get my head around that single use bolt nonsense, but for peace of mind thought it best. Don’t really want the alternator coming loose. It could be messy!
 
If anyone needs to replace the disas on the N52 3.0 si. Part numbers for Febi Bilstein replacements;

Small disa. Engine block side of inlet manifold:



Big disa. Top of inlet manifold behind air box, etc:



Might help someone out….
 
AdyBish, thanks for your post - I'll be checking my DISA's out in the next few weeks, since my car has just passed 100K miles.
 
AdyBish said:
I’ve ordered two Febi disas, a Gates drive belt, and the alternator bolts which are supposedly single use. I can’t quite get my head around that single use bolt nonsense, but for peace of mind thought it best. Don’t really want the alternator coming loose. It could be messy!
Click to expand...

It's because the engine block is made of some sort of exotic magnesium/aluminium alloy so anything bolted to it has to be fitted with aluminium bolts which are single use. Steel bolts wouldn't work because of different rates of thermal expansion between them and the block.

Good to see you've got it sorted mow. :thumbsup:
 
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