Hi all,

This a tale so grab a tea!

I have a 2008 FL2 which for a few months had an intermittent power loss issue, normally in the form of no boost, it was driveable but every now and then it would loose power for a few seconds, normally resolving itself, or at worst restarting the engine would fix it. This, I thought, was traced to a split intercooler hose, which was the second instance of this happening so a relatively straight forward fix.

Unfortunately it didn't end there!

A few weeks later the same fault came back and reading the codes with my GAP tool suggested EGR, so I set about putting a new EGR valve in and giving the cooler a good clean. Refitted and the problem subsided for a week and then returned.

The next instalment gave me over boosting with a loud whooshing noise, accompanied with a fluttering noise when at 1500-2000rpm, normally occurring when pulling out of a junction and the auto box changing from 1st to 2nd. The loss of power happened more frequently and ultimately resulted in a restricted performance message and not enough power for my wife to get off the motorway..

I checked all the hoses and read all the codes again, this time with GAP & SDD and the message I got was that the turbo control module was at fault. I ordered a turbo, gaskets and bolts and set about swapping that out, what a mission that was! Got it installed and it ran perfectly, no codes, no loss of power and no turbo flutter, but when doing an air path calibration I had "High" readings for MAF and MAP on idle, before buttoning everything back up, I also had a new fuel and air filter so thought I'd get those fitted.

The high readings were lingering in the back of my head and I knew a glow plug had failed, whilst the fuel filter is off why don't I check the inlet manifold, I've read plenty about failing flaps!

That was my task at the weekend, wasn't too bad getting it off.....wait why are there two flaps rattling around, where is the brass bar, oh wait, is that the brass bar I found in the undertray when I started all this... has all this been the inlet manifold.... At least ones still connected, where is the fourth, no where to be seen.. Well the one remaining must've been actuating and not blocking the intake completely, oh the actuator has also snapped off, brilliant!

It doesn't stop there, I'd ordered a later inlet manifold, without flaps, so set about getting that back on, only to find that one of the bolts had snapped off in the block, I didn't even feel it snap, a few hours later I gave up trying to get the bolt out and drilled it out completely and fitted a helicoil. I got everything bolted back up, vacuum pipe capped off, fuel filter bled. Started on the button. Took it for a drive and it all seems perfect, drives nice and smooth, no unexpected turbo noises but there is an ever so slight tapping coming from the engine, but is that just diesel noise, I've driven my D4 for a few months now which is a lot quieter so I can't remember what the FL2 used to sound like.

I listened all over with a stethoscope and can hear a "pinking" type noise in cylinder 3 I think. I guess this could be a bit of diesel knock or is it a ball of plastic bouncing around the cylinder, or is it a rocker tapping the top of a bent valve.. It seems like it's in time with the firing of the cylinder but a lot is happening so difficult to pin point.

Finally were onto the questions!

Did I waste a lot of time changing the turbo and EGR? Could all of this have been caused by the intake manifold? The broken flaps wasn't a new occurrence, I found the brass bar in the undertray on the second day of looking into it, but I'm not sure how long it had been there. I'm also not sure when the actuator arm snapped. It could have been running relatively fine for months after this had happened.

Am I on a road to premature engine failure if I don't strip everything down and find the missing flap? I've checked the inlet valves I can see and they look perfect, but I can't easily see anything else without pulling the injectors, which I'm loathed to do unless I have too.

Do I just chance it, the cylinder head is already toast if a valve has bent, if it starts, runs and stops just fine is there any reason not to drive it? I guess the worst that can happen is it breaks down again? I will keep an eye on the oil to make sure I'm not getting diesel in the oil, it doesn't smell of unburnt diesel so I don't think it's over fuelling.

Anyway I'm blabbering now, 5 weeks of thinking about nothing but Freelander 2's will do that!

Thanks in advance and sorry for the long post!

Gosh - such persistence.

These intake flaps are a nightmare and a cause of much engine destruction.

If you took an injector out would you be able to see inside the cylinder with a endoscope ? Jules

I can't see how the brass flap rod has fallen out. It needs pulling out with some force. There also wouldn't be enough space for it to come out, as it's about a foot long.

If the flaps have broken in half, they can be ingested by the engine, often bending valves and damaging pistons in the process.

I can't see damaged flaps causing random issues, they either cause an issue or don't, depending on if engine damage has occurred or not.

I removed mine before they caused any damage. 2009 Rimini Red SE TD4. Soon to be sold.
Hyundai Ionic 5 Ultimate on order.
Gone. 2006 Tonga Green i6 HSE.

The brass rod looks to have broken into three pieces, one piece remained in the inlet manifold holding the remaining flap shut, another piece was found outside the inlet manifold and the third piece is missing. The bits I have left don't make up the full width so either a section is missing or another section wore down, a lot! I think around 40-50mm is missing.

I too am stumped as to how it got out, the only plausible explanation I have is it ended up falling down through the "throttle body", and when I checked the piping around 5 weeks ago I dislodged it and it fell down onto the undertray, or got caught up on something and fell down when it was next driven.

There is a chance the rod fell out years ago when I changed to a silicon hose for the short down pipe, it was lodge under the matting on the undertray so there is a chance I never spotted it. It hasn't done many miles in the last couple of years so I hadn't done a service for 18months or so.

I wish I'd removed them earlier too, knowing one is potentially rattling around somewhere bugs me! My next step is to remove the intercooler, to see if it's in there, although I think I'm clutching at straws because that is the opposite direction to normal airflow!

Wouldn't be the first instance of this rod breaking that I have heard about on here. Very glad I removed all that stuff a few years back. 
Hung like Einstein, smart as a horse.