Maserati Forum banner
Cancel
Create thread New Garage Forums

Exhaust in sports mode sometimes is quiet?

Jump to Latest
1 - 13 of 13 Posts
S

Superfrg

· Registered
Joined
·
28 Posts
Discussion starter · #1 ·
First off, thanks for a great forum.

I've read a lot of information here before deciding on a 2011 GTS, and what a car!
Ive only had it for a few weeks, and I'm really happy with it, but I have some weird problem with the exhaust in sport mode, and perhaps someone had the same issue before?

When I activate the sports mode, the exhaust normally goes into overdrive. Same (addictive) loud sound in auto or manual mode, even in idle and before 3K RPM.
Its really nice and all, but as far as I can understand it should only be loud all the time in manual, or if in auto above 3K rpm'ish?

Now this is not really a problem, as I really like it to be loud.

However, some times, say 1 out of 7, the sports mode does absolutely nothing for the exhaust.
It just stays in "quiet" mode, as it would be if I didn't have sports mode activated.
I've tried turning off the engine, and restarting but it doesn't do anything. Pressing sport does nothing, i've driven 30+ mins with no change.
Today I went for a spin, all was good, and when I had to drive home 20 mins later the sports mode did not activate the loud exhaust, no matter what buttons I messed with.

Im going to let a mechanic look at it, but would like some input beforehand.

Thanks in advance, any input is appreciated.

BTW the amount of attention this car brings is utterly insane...:smile2:
 
#4 ·
I'm glad you figured out your problem. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand that the valves on the muffler are either switched on or off. If the vacuum line is disconnected the valve defaults to the open position (loud). If the vacuum line is connected and the sport button is pressed it also must switch off vacuum to that line which in turn causes the exhaust switch to default to open.
The weird problem I'm having is this. I disconnected both vacuum lines from mufflers and plugged the end of the lines with golf tees. When I start the car it's very loud warming up, but 5 seconds later it gets muted at idle...rpm is not changing, just the sound. Sport button is turned on. What would cause the exhaust sound to get quiet like that, at idle?
Thanks for any advice.
 
#5 ·
newmas

Hawaii said:
I'm glad you figured out your problem. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand that the valves on the muffler are either switched on or off. If the vacuum line is disconnected the valve defaults to the open position (loud). If the vacuum line is connected and the sport button is pressed it also must switch off vacuum to that line which in turn causes the exhaust switch to default to open.
The weird problem I'm having is this. I disconnected both vacuum lines from mufflers and plugged the end of the lines with golf tees. When I start the car it's very loud warming up, but 5 seconds later it gets muted at idle...rpm is not changing, just the sound. Sport button is turned on. What would cause the exhaust sound to get quiet like that, at idle?
Thanks for any advice.
Click to expand...
is it just during cold starts?

Even with the valves open all the time it will be louder during a cold start
 
#7 ·
Absolutely normal. It is the combination of lean mixture/retarded timing that you hear as 'louder' at startup.

At cold start-up, the ECU runs a special 'cold program' that is designed to bring the converters in the exhaust up to temperature as quickly as possible. Catshttp://www.amazon.com/gp/search?ie=...F8&camp=1789&creative=9325&index=aps&keywords=catalytic+converters&linkCode=ur2 don't work well when cold. To warm up the cats as fast as possible, the cold program 1) runs the engine at a higher rpm 2) runs the mixture very lean (lean mixtures burn hottest) and 3) ignites the charge later than normal so there is as much heat as possible in the exhaust stream. This is the loudness you here for the first 60 seconds or so.

As soon as the cats are in ideal temp, you will hear the ECU automatically go from cold to normal programming - the revs drop, the engine smooths out and the noise drops.
 
#11 ·
I had a valve system on my C63 and when the valves vacuum line leaked the default position was close so the car was not loud.

So for the maserati the default position is loud? as in if the vacuum line were to break the car would be stuck on the sports mode exhaust forever?
 
1 - 13 of 13 Posts
About this Discussion
12 Replies
8 Participants
Last post:
Duhdenmark
Maserati Forum
posts
447K
members
45K
Since
2003
We’re a forum to discuss the Maserati Coupé, Spyder, GranTurismo, Ghibli, Quattroporte and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
GranTurismo Coupe, Spyder, GS QP5 2003-2012 Modern Maserati New Member Introductions