Quote:
Originally Posted by JDUni1
Here you go! So you have to pull out two of the clips holding the liner on the drivers side (center of the clip first then the bigger part), then pull the tail light cover off, and then pull the liner out a little bit so you can get access to the "fender well". Push the metal retaining spring on the connector down and pull the connector off. Done!  |
Thanks for the tip JDUni1, I did this today - fairly easy mod but I did pull the car apart a bit more than you suggested, just so that I didn't need to stress the internal panel too much.
I did a few tests by trying it with the connector attached and detached. It seems that with everything connected as it should be, the flap is normally open at idle but must close once revs climb a little.
Detaching the connector, there is no difference at idle but you can hear a very slight difference between about 1,000 and 3,500 rpm. It certainly isn't very noticeable but I can detect some slight droning around the 2,000 rpm mark. What impresses the most is the efforts BMW went to to make such a minor reduction in exhaust noise by fitting the flapper valve and all the associated software and hardware.