Thoght on G.A.S DISA Rebuild Kit

It's just plain awesome
It comes with EVERYTHING you will need to repair your DISA
DO NOT buy your a new DISA that will just **** on you again later
I bought this kit thinking I would need extra things as it talked about using loc-tite and sythetic grease and things of that nature while installing.
But when it arrived in the mail, and I opened it up. I was quite surprised
It comes with the loc-tite and grease and even some cotton swabs to put it on.
It comes with a lag bolt to get out your old swing arm. (I didn't need it because I had my DISA already taken apart and put back in the car with the flap removed.) Performance was down but it didn't sound like a can or marbles anymore.
After putting this whole kit back together, and using the upgraded supplied o-ring...
I am EXTREMELY pumped on how my car runs. It has much smoother rpm climbing and extremely better throttle response. Of course that is in part to my replace intake boots that I did at the same time. I also did my ICV valve while I was at it, and lemme tell you what a pain in the ass that thing is to get out. I have pics of all of this operation to come. Just wanted to give a shout out to an AWESOME company.

Feel confident in ordering your parts from German Auto Solutions
I am not a sponsor or any **** like that.
Just a dude that got way more than he bargained for when buying this kit.
It's ****in' awesome. And easy to use if you can turn a wrench (torx)

And read...

You'll have to know how to read...

Donalde

Glad to hear.
Looking forward to pics.
How much do you have tied up in it?

I would just buy a new DISA. Mine is still going strong (personally verified multiple times by removal and inspection) at 10 years/130k miles.

I'd get the disa gold valve if I had to replace it. It's not much more than a new disa, and it is much more durable.

Originally Posted by E46Mango

I would just buy a new DISA. Mine is still going strong (personally verified multiple times by removal and inspection) at 10 years/130k miles.

Seems as though you're just getting lucky with a new one. If I ever replace something that was poorly designed, I never replace it with the exact same thing and hope for the best. It's like stepping in the same pile of dog **** and hoping not to get it on your shoe the second time. For a third of the price and privilege of working on my car, in glad I went this route. It was fun and rewarding. Not to mention its made entirely of aluminum now instead of plastic. Cost me 80 bucks with the upgraded o ring. I'll get the pics up tomorrow.

2002 BMW 330i

Originally Posted by DonaldE

Seems as though you're just getting lucky with a new one. If I ever replace something that was poorly designed, I never replace it with the exact same thing and hope for the best. It's like stepping in the same pile of dog **** and hoping not to get it on your shoe the second time. For a third of the price and privilege of working on my car, in glad I went this route. It was fun and rewarding. Not to mention its made entirely of aluminum now instead of plastic. Cost me 80 bucks with the upgraded o ring. I'll get the pics up tomorrow.

2002 BMW 330i

FWIW, I've never seen a DISA fail in real life. I've worked on quite a few E46s too. The ones that do fail have 10 years/100k+ miles on them. I wouldn't exactly call it a pile of dog &&&& because it needs to be replaced every 10 years. Lots of people have done this mod and regretted it, AFAIK. Glad it worked for you though.

GL!

Originally Posted by E46Mango

FWIW, I've never seen a DISA fail in real life. I've worked on quite a few E46s too. The ones that do fail have 10 years/100k+ miles on them. I wouldn't exactly call it a pile of dog &&&& because it needs to be replaced every 10 years. Lots of people have done this mod and regretted it, AFAIK. Glad it worked for you though.

GL!

Mango, my mechanic buddy says the same thing - maybe worked on one DISA in thirteen years of working on E46s. I, too, would simply replace with a new one rather than attempting to rebuild with my less-than-acceptable mechanic skills.

My 98 DISA is still working fine.

It's just people who remove it and notice it's loose and think it's broken because others have done the same and posted that it's broken.

It's only broken if it sounds wierd , and then its the vacuum seal that fails.

Personally i would replace with a new DISA but thanks for posting OP

Well regardless. I have confidence in my skills as a mechanic and rightfully so considering I'm a mechanical engineer by degree. So call me a tinkerer. But with 10 Years and just about 140 thousand, I think I made the right move. I was throwing codes and could hear the air (with stethoscope) coming from the (terribly designed) pressed in gasket. And I spent less than half for CNC'd aluminum parts. So I feel pretty good despite you nay sayers.

So much negativity on these forums...

2002 BMW 330i

This kit is an excellent solution. I bought a new DISA, but I think I will put the GAS kit in sometime in the future. My DISA was rattling and had play in it after 70K miles. In hindsight I should have just bought the GAS kit for $80 and drove w/o the flap for a while.

Originally Posted by DonaldE

Well regardless. I have confidence in my skills as a mechanic and rightfully so considering I'm a mechanical engineer by degree. So call me a tinkerer. But with 10 Years and just about 140 thousand, I think I made the right move. I was throwing codes and could hear the air (with stethoscope) coming from the (terribly designed) pressed in gasket. And I spent less than half for CNC'd aluminum parts. So I feel pretty good despite you nay sayers.

So much negativity on these forums...

2002 BMW 330i

That's a common statement but if you look at people giving solid advice that is commonly accepted, you'll notice they've been here a while. This forum has a sh!t ton of activity and we see every problem come and go. Newcomers come on here all the time with info/news on what they did to their car and we've seen it all. We know what works and what doesn't, what's cost-efficient and what isn't. Rebuilding the DISA is borderline but consensus is just replace it with a new one. believe me, we have plenty of tinkerers on here, including myself. there's just some things not worth tinkering with.

If you search, you'll see why people prefer new ones to rebuilding it. I haven't looked into it much cause honestly i don't care. It's like rebuilding a window regulator.. i'm sure you could do it for pennies.. but why bother?

interesting thead, want to see pics of this CNC stuff.

Mine failed around 10 years/140K miles I believe. Started to make that whining/whistling noise, unplugging it made it stop. I fully investigated it and the flap was fine and pin as well, there was something wrong internally with the vacuum mechanism. So I bought a new one. The way parts go in this beast, I'll take 10 years of worry free for a part any day of the week!

Originally Posted by trizzuth

interesting thead, want to see pics of this CNC stuff.

Mine failed around 10 years/140K miles I believe. Started to make that whining/whistling noise, unplugging it made it stop. I fully investigated it and the flap was fine and pin as well, there was something wrong internally with the vacuum mechanism. So I bought a new one. The way parts go in this beast, I'll take 10 years of worry free for a part any day of the week!

between that and the wah-wah, your car is like a one-man band isn't it?

I have to disagree Mango. The GAS kit replaces all the DISA's failure prone parts. The only thing that can break on it after the upgrade is the vacuum membrane. I'm not sure how often that breaks if ever. The kit also saves over $100. If the vacuum membrane does eventually fail in the upgraded DISA, you can buy a new one and transfer the GAS kit. It's a win-win situation to do the kit IMO.

Originally Posted by WDE46

I have to disagree Mango. The GAS kit replaces all the DISA's failure prone parts. The only thing that can break on it after the upgrade is the vacuum membrane. I'm not sure how often that breaks if ever. The kit also saves over $100. If the vacuum membrane does eventually fail in the upgraded DISA, you can buy a new one and transfer the GAS kit. It's a win-win situation to do the kit IMO.

that's why I said consensus, not everybody.

Originally Posted by E46Mango

that's why I said consensus, not everybody.

touche

Originally Posted by E46Mango

between that and the wah-wah, your car is like a one-man band isn't it?

HAHA funny. but not. Here's the sounds I recall coming from my 330i at one point or another:

1) Lower intake boot whistle (which is very hard to identify when you have an AFE cold air intake in there

2) DISA valve whine

3) Bad idler pulleys a few times squealing

4) Leaking front section on my UUC TSE3 (replaced under UUC's great warranty)

5) Wa Wa Wa coming from front left bearing

6) Grinding/scraping noise coming from parking brake shoes when they released themselves from one of the spring bolts that hold them on after I did the rear wheel bearing job and mangled my backing plates. Later when I replaced the kit, I found one spring screw off on each side, it was just sitting there in between the shoe and the backing plate, rubbing on the rotor, making a HORRIBLE grinding/metal on metal scraping noise.

7) I've also had this odd high pitched whine ever since I got the car that I can only hear when on the highway in 5th gear and slowly letting off the gas so the car runs down on engine power. Has to be some noise coming from some part spinning fast, maybe driveshaft, who knows. Problem always been there, no negative effects from what I can see except for me getting annoyed.

8) Hard knocking when I blew out the passenger side ball joint on my hamburg technic control arms WHAT A POS. NEVER GET THESE. ZHP's on there now.

9) The growl from my exhaust all day long But that is a sweet noise.

So yeah, my car at any given time is truly a one man band, like a bunch of kids banging on garbage can lids and playing recorders.

Originally Posted by E46Mango

FWIW, I've never seen a DISA fail in real life.

Lol. Then you don't know what you're talking about and should shut up on this one.

Originally Posted by Kubica

Lol. Then you don't know what you're talking about and should shut up on this one.

No, exactly the opposite. I've worked on more E46s in the past month than you have your entire life.

Originally Posted by WDE46

This kit is an excellent solution. I bought a new DISA, but I think I will put the GAS kit in sometime in the future. My DISA was rattling and had play in it after 70K miles. In hindsight I should have just bought the GAS kit for $80 and drove w/o the flap for a while.

Why do these things have such a weird, spread out failure rate?
Aside from the O Ring, why do these fail for some, and last longer for others.

Here is my old one.

I pulled this out at 293k miles.
Replaced it with a new one, but I feel like the old one was fine.