DISA Valve repair kit

Originally Posted by doru

But it seems the internal valve does not fail that often. the issue is with the flapper design & the rubber seals, IMO.
Therefore, a good designed flapper (like Gary's) combined with a good seal (again, like Gary's) will help extend the life of the DISA. Then, if the internal valve fails, you have to buy a new unit, and after so many years/miles, you just transfer the improved flapper/seals combo to the now new/old DISA. In this case, throughout the life of the car, you end up with 2 DISA & 1 upgraded flapper. And no steel pin in the engine.

Agree with doru's thoughts do I. I'm not sure why there continues to be descension about this particular product. The upgraded parts are a night and day diffference from OEM and inhertently provide a safety blanket from loose metalic parts coming free and entering the intake manifold. Yes..the chances are small, but any improvement when it comes to reliablity, longevity or safety are well worth it in my book.

For the record, maybe Gary should PM this guy who is having trouble finding the DISA:
- - > E39 (1997 - 2003) > More trouble codes....

Thanks for the info and the great photos guys, i have the codes logged in my computer and will be taking out the DISA to inspect as soon as i get a warm enough day!

well i just bought your repair kit and i didn't even inspect my DISA. thats how much of a wild card I am. too much work for me, the new parts will motivate me... next weekend.

Originally Posted by Eurong

. Also the cleaning up of the o-ring is very tedious. It almost feel like to chisel off bit by bit.

Here's a trick I used and it seemed to help clean out every last bit of the built in O-ring.

I used the tip of a wooden chopstick. Depending on how narrow the chopstick tip is, use a needle nose plier (or any plier) to lightly crush the tip so that the tip fits into the O-ring slot. I used a small flat blade screw driver to get things started but the wooden chopstick did a great job of cleaning out the slot. The wood was hard enough to scrape away the O-ring material and soft enough not to damage the plastic grove. After crushing the tip, the wood fibers become a little flexible and can really get the corners cleaned out. I used it like an eraser, scrubbing back and forth to get the stubborn areas clean. It worked great.

Originally Posted by doru

I am not sure if vacuum pulls the flapper. The DISA is electric powered....

This should explain completely how the DISA works:
- How the DISA valve operates (0) (1) (2) (3) (4) & how to test DISA operation (0) (1) (2) (3) (4) & a nice DISA autopsy (1) (2)

Originally Posted by doru

TThe OEM seal is flat from factory and has a small raised rib in he middle, which will desintegrate in time.

This shows the flattening of the O-ring:
- How the disa valve o-ring fails (1) (2)

Gary, Thanks so much for the DISA repair kit. The kit (possibly the O-ring alone) made an amazing difference and restored power I didn't realize was gone. The loss of power occurred slowly over time so I had no idea how much power I was missing. The car drives like it's new again (ok - I might be exaggerating just a little).

Here's my long DISA story. Years ago I was replacing the CCV and wasn't sure what method I was going to use so I started with trying to remove the intake manifold. One thing I removed at the time was the DISA. I decided not to continue along that path and installed the CCV without removing the intake manifold. When I put it all back together and started the car, I got a service engine light. I missed one of those connectors that come from that octopus of wires near the air intake (wires that go to many sensors and controls). I reconnected it but the light didn't go away. When I finally got the tools to look at and reset the codes. I was getting several codes related to unmetered air getting into the system. The codes I was getting regularly were 227 and 228, 'lambda contol tolerance Banks 1 and 2' as well as other related codes. The CCV connections were fine. I chased that air leak for years (whenever I had time). It was there after the OFH gasket change, after changing spark plugs and after changing the valve cover gasket. Codes 227 and 228 were always showing up. Two years ago, I decided to check the DISA valve again. I took it out and it seemed something was wrong with it. The flapper wasn't quite right, I thought maybe it needed to be in its installed position to function properly so I attempted to reinstall it but it wouldn't fit back in properly. It wouldn't sit flush against the manifold. The old me would have forced it in and tightened the bolts but I must have learned something over the years because when I pulled it out to see what was blocking it from fitting properly, I found the pin that holds the flapper in place sitting in the channel that the DISA slides into. I was lucky. I assembled the pin into the flapper. The DISA was functioning fine with the pin installed but I didn't know enough at the time to suspect the pre-formed O-ring. It seemed good to me. It wasn't until a couple of months ago when I tried again to track down the air leak that I came upon all of these DISA threads with discussions about how to change the O-Ring. I took the DISA out one more time and saw it was no longer functioning. The flapper moved freely. I ordered Gary's kit with the Fluorosilicone O-ring and did the repair (the bell crank was completely rounded). It's been a month and I notice an amazing improvement in power. I'd merge onto the freeway, look at the speedometer and notice I'm doing 80-85 without pushing the car at all. Best of all, I haven't seen codes 227 and 228 in a month (I think the O-ring solved that mystery).

It's a great design, an easy fix and in my case solved a several year old air leak mystery. Thanks Gary.

After reading many testimonials of the hazards and pitfalls of the "DISA valve" it seemed like a logical conclusion that this part WILL fail. It's not a matter of if, but when. And when it fails, it can have serious side effects; the imaginary animation of a metal pin flowing into one of my combustion chambers was not pretty.

I didn't want to remove the part for inspection without at least having a new sealing ring. I saw discussion of which O-ring would fit, and the arguments over which material was best suited. I heard about group buys on new DISA valves, but these parts were made the same and would also fail. Once I discovered the G.A.S. solution, I knew that only this was good enough for my E39. The price seemed VERY reasonable for a potentially permanent fix for this BMW albatross. I had to have the uprated O-ring, of course, and the transaction was silky smooth, shipping lighting fast.

Machining is what sets aside the "proper" parts from the mass produced dregs of China and Taiwan. It's also what separates BMW from the likes of Ford...and Hyundai. They are getting better, but I bet they change the cutting heads a lot less frequently and accept a lot more slop in the whole process. With that in mind, when I opened the small box from German Auto Solutions, my eyes opened wide. These pieces are works of art! I had never seen the inside of my DISA valve, but I knew it didn't.....couldn't look this good.

OK, so not only do they outdo themselves with the machining but they have complete directions, which are very easy to follow, with plenty of pictures. They go SO far out of their way to make sure you don't screw it up, I was starting to feel offended with all the disclaimers and warnings. C'mon, this aint my first ro-de-oh!!

Enough already! On with the magnificence:



Oh, yeah......



Now THAT'S what a DISA should look like!

You just read that story above mine, how his pin was just floating around in the groove the DISA rests in, O - M to the ff'in G!! Here's what mine looked like after I removed it:



First of all, the lever was so rounded, the flapper was spinning, unable to be activated at all. The pin was still in place (thank the maker), but VERY well worn. And you can see one of the flapper corners was eroded away from just hanging in the breeze rubbing against the rest of the setup. This was on a car with just 100K. Seriously, if you've never thought about this device, this is your wakeup call. If you have checked yours, good, but give yourself the piece of mind, and get this kit and install it. Grassroots tech like this needs to be in the spotlight, HUGE kudos to the G.A.S. team!

Thanks Five30Eye for the glowing feedback.

The kit has been on the market almost a year now and has been a great success. If people only knew the amount of time and effort that went into the design of this kit. I'm a perfectionist at the very core and I think it shows up in the quality and attention to detail of the kit and the instructions. This is not a big money maker for us due to the number and extent of machining operations, plus bead blasting, anodizing and all the accessories that we include in the kit.

The kit price was set based on what the market would bare based on the replacement cost of a new unit, not the actual cost to produce kit plus a normal profit margin. Now that replacement units have gone up in price by a $100.00 we are considering a small price increase in the kit. You will probably see the kit price increase in a month or so to $79.95 from the current price of $75.00. I hate to do that, but I have already tweaked every part of the production process to minimize machining time without sacrificing any quality. The $4.95 increase still won't bring the kit into a "normal" profit margin range, but it will help over time. I promise that we will cap the price at $79.95 (baring hyper inflation or something else beyond our control) to make sure that the kit remains a very good value over the cost of replacement.

Thanks again everyone for your support and kind words over the past year.

Keep checking the website for new products offerings, like maybe our new 1.2 bar coolant cap (hint, hint) that currently has an introductory sale price.

http://germanautosolutions.com/

Gary

This week the DISA valve on my 330 with 73k miles started audibly rattling quite loudly. Unplugged the DISA and the rattle went away immediately, so easy confirmation there. Was shocked to see the OEM part is almost $350! I'm really considering picking up this repair/upgrade kit - though by the sound of it I should first pull off my DISA unit and inspect it to make sure the housing is in good shape? I haven't noticed any real negative symptoms in the car beyond the occasional uneven idle so I expect the vacuum seal is still okay. I've unplugged it in the meantime to help avoid any plastic bits falling into the intake.

Looks like a quality kit, Gary, thank you for all your hard work.

Originally Posted by gary@germanautosolutions

Keep checking the website for new products offerings, like maybe our new 1.2 bar coolant cap (hint, hint) that currently has an introductory sale price.

Hi Gary. Already posted this question on your web site but I got an error msg after submitting so I'll ask here just in case...
When trying to order the DISA/coolant cap combo, the DISA defaults to the 2.2/2.5 version but I have a 3.0. Is the combo price available for the 3.0 or do I need to order the parts separately?

Thanks for posting these photos of the inside of your manifold. Just inspected my DISA yesterday and looked very similar and the inside of the intake looked like that also ... some sludge and grit. I did discover my lean codes were probably being caused by cracks in the intake boot so maybe dirty air coming through there introduced some of the grit. I'd love to know how many others see this kind of sludge in their intakes?

Originally Posted by Jason5driver

Hi Gary...!

I am not sure if you have seen my thread...
CCV, Oil Pan Gasket, & Fuel Pump Failure Related?
Link:
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...786&highlight=

But, here is the post I left there, basically noting my findings with my Disa Valve.
Thoughts?

Originally Posted by jvest2000

Thanks for posting these photos of the inside of your manifold. Just inspected my DISA yesterday and looked very similar and the inside of the intake looked like that also ... some sludge and grit. I did discover my lean codes were probably being caused by cracks in the intake boot so maybe dirty air coming through there introduced some of the grit. I'd love to know how many others see this kind of sludge in their intakes?

More than likely, the oil/ sand build-up is from the CCV not working properly - providing enough vacuum through the valve...
So, instead of the CCV pulling blow-by down towards the oil pan, and out through the Valve to be vented, the blow-by and oil gunk is being sucked up through the Intake Manifold....

Not good...!

You might check-out these threads:
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...5#post26059585

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1629018

Thanks!
Jason

Originally Posted by Jason5driver

instead of the CCV pulling blow-by down towards the oil pan, and out through the Valve to be vented, the blow-by and oil gunk is being sucked up through the Intake Manifold....

Hmmm... that gets me thinking (since I felt grit in my intake manifold and on the DISA flap itself when I had removed 'my' DISA about a year or so ago) ...


What if, which is very common, and which happened to me, the CCV vent hose to the dip stick guide tube snapped nearly in half (as shown below on my M54) at the 90° upper elbow nearest the CCV ...


Would THAT huge hose tear also cause road grime to be sucked into the intake manifold?

Originally Posted by bluebee

Hmmm... that gets me thinking...
Since I felt grit in my intake manifold and on the DISA flap itself when I had removed 'my' DISA about a year or so ago...

What if, which is very common, and which happened to me, the CCV vent hose to the dip stick guide tube snapped nearly in half (as shown below on my M54) at the 90° upper elbow nearest the CCV ...

Would THAT huge hose tear also cause road grime to be sucked into the intake manifold?

The broken hose would probably act as a giant vacuum leak.
But, could probably mess up the CCV system by not allowing the system to pull sufficient vacuum through the system.
Think of it as a giant straw, and you now poked a hole in the middle of the straw as you are sucking your drink up...
Once the hole is there in the straw, it makes it pretty hard to suck and drink through that straw, huh...?


Thanks!
Jason

Originally Posted by Jason5driver

Once the hole is there in the straw, it makes it pretty hard to suck and drink through that straw

So, you're saying there'd be no vacuum, so, road grime would NOT get sucked into the intake manifold?

That particular broken hose would be an unfiltered air inlet directly into the intake manifold. If left that way for very long in a dirty driving environment I could see it allowing a lot of grit into the intake manifold.

Got the kit I ordered yesterday and did the repair/install today. Seems to have worked great! High quality parts and excellent instructions. Thank you, Gary!

Took me 2-3 hours to do start to finish as I was taking my time and in no hurry. The most tedious and time-consuming part was scraping off the old O-ring and cleaning it up real good before putting the new one on. Overall it was a pretty easy job.

Also I'm glad that I did this now, as when I was taking my old DISA apart I caught this:



The pin was starting to protrude from the housing it is supposed to be flush against. It is not a very long pin, nor is it threaded. It wasn't loose, but it did not take all that much effort to pull out. I'm actually pretty shocked by how bad of a design the OEM part is!



Very impressed by the redesigned replacement parts that will ensure this sort of risk of metal bits falling into the intake manifold will never happen again! Just like the GAS page describes, the plastic lever's hexagonal stem had worn away and begun to get rounded off causing the flapper to rattle and have a much less precise motion. Gary's kit is how the DISA should have been designed by BMW in the first place!



All fixed up:



With the repaired/upgraded unit installed back into the car my DISA rattle is gone, my occasional drooping/hunting idle seems to have disappeared, my off-the-line power feels more even, and the kick you feel when VANOS engages at 4000-4500 RPM feels stronger.

I imagine my DISA had been slowly dying and becoming less effective for quite some time before starting to make the racket that caught my attention. I hadn't even noticed how much it had been affecting performance as it degraded so slowly over time.

interested too look like a great fix

Originally Posted by bluebee

So, you're saying there'd be no vacuum, so, road grime would NOT get sucked into the intake manifold?

Originally Posted by gary@germanautosolutions

That particular broken hose would be an unfiltered air inlet directly into the intake manifold. If left that way for very long in a dirty driving environment I could see it allowing a lot of grit into the intake manifold.

+1.
There will be some vacuum I suppose, but no-where near the vacuum that is needed.

To Gary...
Your Disa Repair kit is OUT of Stock until the 15th...!

Any update on the CCV build...?

Thanks!
Jason

To Gary...
You Disa Repair kit is OUT of Stock until the 15th...!

Back in stock now. I was waiting on another order if titanium screw blanks from our supplier. Based on the previous history of them never meeting their stated delivery dates, I gave myself some cushion with the back order date. They came in today, so all is well with the world.

Thanks,

Gary

First post here:
I installed the G.A.S. kit last weekend on a 2002 330i with 114K miles. My original DISA valve was still in good shape with no noticeable play in the tapered hex joint, and it took a good deal of force to pry the bell crank off the flapper. I also purchased the 1.2 bar coolant cap.

As everyone can attest, the kit is top notch. And as alluded to by Gary, the real issue is the hex joint. After a bit of clearance forms, it really is just a matter of time until the bell crank works itself free, and if left that way for too long, the free wheeling flapper could take out the frame and cause more serious damage.

From what I can tell, the real benefit of an aluminum flapper is that it allows for a secure mounting point for the titanium screw and, therefore, a tight press fit for the tapered hex joint, which as noted is what starts the ball rolling toward gloom and doom for the OEM design.

I also replaced my CCV unit with another OEM unit. I wish G.A.S's redesign were ready for purchase -- maybe next time.

Just placed an order for the DISA valve repair kit and coolant cap combo. I've read nothing but good review on Gary's redesigned product so I'm convinced. My car currently has 185,000 kms (115,000 miles) so I will be replacing it whenever I get a chance. Not in a rush but I know once I take care of that, I'll never have to worry about it ever again.

Originally Posted by gary@germanautosolutions

Back in stock now.
I was waiting on another order if titanium screw blanks from our supplier.
Based on the previous history of them never meeting their stated delivery dates, I gave myself some cushion with the back order date.
They came in today, so all is well with the world.

Thanks,

Gary

Thanks!
Anything with the CCV...?

Do you have any ideas on how to repair the rubber around the frame-work for the flapper on the Disa Valve...?

Please let me know.

Thanks!
Jason

gary@germanautosolutions
'Fest Sponsor
Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan

Gary, I received one of your 3.0i DISA Valve rebuild kits back in Feb. I am so lucky that the original valve stayed together long enough to let me rebuild the thing. We have a 04 X3 3.0i. it now has 87,000 miles. The DISA valve was ready to fall apart. When I removed it, the yellow teflon pivot lever was worn to the point that it did not even hit the flapper valve. The stainless pin was partially out but the only thing keeping the flapper from falling into the intake manifold. The new kit installed, functions great. The fuel mileage is back to 20.5 combined and 24 Hwy. The performance is back. Thanks for such a great solution.