S3 has gone super quiet

[mcfadl]

Hey all!
I recently bought my Audi S3 2018 last week and absolutely love it. I also picked up an OBDEleven to tweak a couple things. One of the things I changed was the Throttle Response from Standard to Responsive.

since then the car has gone from being ridiculously loud, to extremely quiet, no matter which mode the car is in, there is no audibly noticeable change in the sound anymore. I have since put the mode back to standard on the OBDEleven, but still nothing.

I’m extremely regretting changing it and has completely taken away from the drive experience.

Has anyone else experienced such a situation? And have any sort of remedy for this at all?

Thanks in advance!
liam

 

[Mick3]

I find sometimes being in eco mode closes the exhaust valves to quiet the exhaust down but doesn't always open them up again!
Wonder if that's the issue your having?
I found to fix this or to make the exhaust valves re-open again you must cycle through all the modes again. Eco - comfort - auto - dynamic - custom (my custom is set to open valves)

 

[george forbes]

Hey all!
I recently bought my Audi S3 2018 last week and absolutely love it. I also picked up an OBDEleven to tweak a couple things. One of the things I changed was the Throttle Response from Standard to Responsive.

since then the car has gone from being ridiculously loud, to extremely quiet, no matter which mode the car is in, there is no audibly noticeable change in the sound anymore. I have since put the mode back to standard on the OBDEleven, but still nothing.

I’m extremely regretting changing it and has completely taken away from the drive experience.

Has anyone else experienced such a situation? And have any sort of remedy for this at all?

Thanks in advance!
liam

Some times when using OBDeleven to change things you find that something else you previously changed has reverted back to how it was for no apparent reason. Maybe the previous owner had coded the valves to be open all the time and when you changed the throttle response the valves have reverted back to normal. had this happen a few times when using it especially the apps as opposed to long coding.

 

[mcfadl]

I find sometimes being in eco mode closes the exhaust valves to quiet the exhaust down but doesn't always open them up again!
Wonder if that's the issue your having?
I found to fix this or to make the exhaust valves re-open again you must cycle through all the modes again. Eco - comfort - auto - dynamic - custom (my custom is set to open valves)

Possibly, but I mean, I’ve tried cycling through and there seems to be no change. I’ll keep trying

 

[mcfadl]

Some times when using OBDeleven to change things you find that something else you previously changed has reverted back to how it was for no apparent reason. Maybe the previous owner had coded the valves to be open all the time and when you changed the throttle response the valves have reverted back to normal. had this happen a few times when using it especially the apps as opposed to long coding.

I will have a look into this. The log file for OBDEleven doesn’t display anything other than the value I changed, but I see the app has an option for keeping the exhaust valves open. This is currently set to off, so maybe I could try opening them up

 

[mcfadl]

UPDATE - Having tried to open up the valves, there's no change in sound and feel unfortunately.

I'm convinced the previous owner had some sort of map applied and when I changed the setting on the OBDEleven, the map was overwritten.

 

[steverobertsbbc]

No change between D & S modes on the transmission?

 

[mcfadl]

No change between D & S modes on the transmission?

I feel the power delivery difference, and the gears change much higher in the revs in S, but in terms of the roar it used to have, its completely gone

 

[tcardio]

the map if present will not be overwritten

 

[steverobertsbbc]

I can't imagine there's a great deal that's software controlled that could change the roar of the engine, other than the exhaust valves... and the Soundaktor. Do you know about this? It's basically a speaker mounted to the engine firewall that puts fake engine noise into the body of the car. I guess it may have been turned up to maximum and whatever you did reset it to the normal level? I believe it's called 'Structure Borne Sound' in the menus.

Alternatively, if the exhaust valves had been permanently opened for a long time and you closed them inadvertently , maybe they're stuck closed now irrespective of the setting. I'm not sure how you would check though, but I'm sure others will know.

 

[mcfadl]

I can't imagine there's a great deal that's software controlled that could change the roar of the engine, other than the exhaust valves... and the Soundaktor. Do you know about this? It's basically a speaker mounted to the engine firewall that puts fake engine noise into the body of the car. I guess it may have been turned up to maximum and whatever you did reset it to the normal level? I believe it's called 'Structure Borne Sound' in the menus.

Alternatively, if the exhaust valves had been permanently opened for a long time and you closed them inadvertently , maybe they're stuck closed now irrespective of the setting. I'm not sure how you would check though, but I'm sure others will know.

Thanks for the response. I have tried changing the valves using the setting in the app, following instruction from another post on this forum, but there doesn’t seem to be much difference there either by opening up the valves. I have the soundaktor set to 100%, and hasn’t been adjusted. I’m not sure if the app is displaying the correct values or not in this case.

its just confusing, as I only changed one setting and the car just seems off. The power is there, but the sound between gear changes and in the low rev ranges is just a lot quieter now, so much so I can almost hear the turbo now.

 

[tcardio]

I assume you used OBD 11 output tests to hear if any change when valve opens. I use VCDS so I'm not sure if that possible in obd 11. Changing the settings in the app may not make any difference if the valve is not functioning but output test would give you data on whether it works or not. I assume you followed the procedure with the DSG to be in sport mode prior to using the app. Start the car, shift the transmission into D\S tap it down into Sport mode. Shift it into park, switch off the car. insert the OBD11 Pro, turn on the ignition, use the app to set exhaust flaps to off/disable.

 

[mcfadl]

I assume you used OBD 11 output tests to hear if any change when valve opens. I use VCDS so I'm not sure if that possible in obd 11. Changing the settings in the app may not make any difference if the valve is not functioning but output test would give you data on whether it works or not. I assume you followed the procedure with the DSG to be in sport mode prior to using the app. Start the car, shift the transmission into D\S tap it down into Sport mode. Shift it into park, switch off the car. insert the OBD11 Pro, turn on the ignition, use the app to set exhaust flaps to off/disable.

Yeah, I had a look at the live data section on the OBDeleven app and there appears to be no difference. I performed the same steps as you've given above to do this, and got a success message in app, but audibly no difference.

I'd say its about 70% quieter in the cabin now and the soundaktor is at 100%. When I wind the window down, I can hear the exhaust, but it seems a little lack luster in comparison to before. The roar has just gone. I have booked it into a tuning garage tomorrow, to see if they are able to reverse my changes based on the logs. If not, they said they'll be able to program in how I would like it, so fingers crossed I can get it back to how it was before.

 

[MauriceT]

Correct me if i'm wrong but the flap only opens up above 3500 rpm or full throttle. Does is sound louder above 3500rpm?

 

[mcfadl]

Correct me if i'm wrong but the flap only opens up above 3500 rpm or full throttle. Does is sound louder above 3500rpm?

The car does sound louder as I’m high in the revs, but it’s nowhere near as loud as it was

 

[MauriceT]

And in OBD11 you tried the "Exhaust Flap Deactivation" app?

Setting should be on Active, when the flaps are open you can turn it off so they will always be open

 

[mcfadl]

And in OBD11 you tried the "Exhaust Flap Deactivation" app?

Setting should be on Active, when the flaps are open you can turn it off so they will always be open

I have tried this too. Again, the difference in sound is very subtle

 

[MauriceT]

Maybe the previous owner added a custom flap? Is the whole exhaust original?

 

[mcfadl]

Maybe the previous owner added a custom flap? Is the whole exhaust original?

Yeah, completely stock car

 

[AlS3BE]

In obd11 you can use live data and see when the flaps open and close during a drive. From what I figured out it’s a combination of parameters like load, revs and if the engine is warmed up etc.
could be the flap motors are broken and not operating at all and a coincidence that it was around the time you were making changes to coding.
another thing is, is your car an 18 plate or 68 plate? Only reason I ask is the 68 plate or sept 2018 onwards cars had gpf and are noticeably quieter and I think the dsg farts are mapped out compared to a pre gpf car.

 

[mcfadl]

In obd11 you can use live data and see when the flaps open and close during a drive. From what I figured out it’s a combination of parameters like load, revs and if the engine is warmed up etc.
could be the flap motors are broken and not operating at all and a coincidence that it was around the time you were making changes to coding.
another thing is, is your car an 18 plate or 68 plate? Only reason I ask is the 68 plate or sept 2018 onwards cars had gpf and are noticeably quieter and I think the dsg farts are mapped out compared to a pre gpf car.

Quite possibly, would be a hell of a coincidence for sure.

It is a 67 plate, but in the system it shows as 2018 model. I'm not sure if for that reason the software adjusted to the 2018 version when in reality it shouldn't have done so. I'm not too sure.

 

[JakeUK]

Have you actually confirmed the exhaust flaps / valves are opening and closing??

Start the car, change to dynamic and go and feel for output from all 4 pipes. If all four pipes aren't outputting then your valves aren't opening. Sometimes the software bugs out and you need to cycle all the way through the driving modes back to Dynamic to wake it up. I would try this too. You don't need to shove a camera down there or anything, just put your hand over the pipes and feel.

It sounds like your valves were permanently open and are now permanently closed. I had mine unplugged (locked OPEN) and I then drove for 2 days with them plugged back. In comfort mode where the valves would remain CLOSED, the difference in sound was significant in my opinion. I since had a res delete fitted which isn't really even comparable but I can confirm there is quite a difference in these valves if coded / unplugged to be OPEN all the time.

 

[mcfadl]

Have you actually confirmed the exhaust flaps / valves are opening and closing??

Start the car, change to dynamic and go and feel for output from all 4 pipes. If all four pipes aren't outputting then your valves aren't opening. Sometimes the software bugs out and you need to cycle all the way through the driving modes back to Dynamic to wake it up. I would try this too. You don't need to shove a camera down there or anything, just put your hand over the pipes and feel.

It sounds like your valves were permanently open and are now permanently closed. I had mine unplugged (locked OPEN) and I then drove for 2 days with them plugged back. In comfort mode where the valves would remain CLOSED, the difference in sound was significant in my opinion. I since had a res delete fitted which isn't really even comparable but I can confirm there is quite a difference in these valves if coded / unplugged to be OPEN all the time.

I will go out and have another go shortly. Thanks for the detailed info. When I try to open up the valves on the app, and put the car into dynamic sport, the sound change is very subtle on idle in comparison to how it was. After getting the success message in app, switching to neutral and park modes still sound quiet.

When driving high in the rev range, it’s almost as you say, the extra two valves aren’t opening up.

if I hold my hand over the two inner pipes at the back, I can feel the heat, but nothing from the outer two at any point

 

[AlS3BE]

I will go out and have another go shortly. Thanks for the detailed info. When I try to open up the valves on the app, and put the car into dynamic sport, the sound change is very subtle on idle in comparison to how it was. After getting the success message in app, switching to neutral and park modes still sound quiet.

When driving high in the rev range, it’s almost as you say, the extra two valves aren’t opening up.

if I hold my hand over the two inner pipes at the back, I can feel the heat, but nothing from the outer two at any point

Change in sound at idle is mainly due to higher idle speed in sport rather than the valves opening.
If I remember right when you first start the car the valves are open then it cycles to close regardless what mode you are in.
another way to check the valves is use a long stick and see if there’s something in the way
another thing to bear in mind is the obd11 exhaust flap app didn’t work on facelift model and didn’t work on vcds coding changes either. At least not initially so maybe there’s a workaround now.
i would stop using obd11 apps for now before it does something else. Some of the apps don’t really work and can code some crap into your car. If you are going to do anything use the long coding or adaptations as then you know what you have changed and can reverse if necessary. Apps could code a load of crap without you knowing and reversing it os hard of you don’t know what it’s coded.

 

[mcfadl]

Change in sound at idle is mainly due to higher idle speed in sport rather than the valves opening.
If I remember right when you first start the car the valves are open then it cycles to close regardless what mode you are in.
another way to check the valves is use a long stick and see if there’s something in the way
another thing to bear in mind is the obd11 exhaust flap app didn’t work on facelift model and didn’t work on vcds coding changes either. At least not initially so maybe there’s a workaround now.
i would stop using obd11 apps for now before it does something else. Some of the apps don’t really work and can code some crap into your car. If you are going to do anything use the long coding or adaptations as then you know what you have changed and can reverse if necessary. Apps could code a load of crap without you knowing and reversing it os hard of you don’t know what it’s coded.

Thanks for the update. I will refrain from using the OBDEleven in future. I guess for me there was a significant roar when I started the engine before and now that it not there either. Along with the roar after each gear change. I’ll check the valves again to be sure

 

[JakeUK]

I will go out and have another go shortly. Thanks for the detailed info. When I try to open up the valves on the app, and put the car into dynamic sport, the sound change is very subtle on idle in comparison to how it was. After getting the success message in app, switching to neutral and park modes still sound quiet.

When driving high in the rev range, it’s almost as you say, the extra two valves aren’t opening up.

if I hold my hand over the two inner pipes at the back, I can feel the heat, but nothing from the outer two at any point

You should absolutely be able to feel the exhaust output from all 4 pipes if you've changed to dynamic. Perhaps they do close after a couple of minutes but I have done this myself.

Started up, changed to dynamic, felt for output and then unplugged the valves. I would do one final check on a cold start tomorrow morning and if you are still not feeling any output after cycling back through to dynamic, your valves are stuck closed. Probably just a coding thing as opposed to dodgy motors I'm sure!

 

[mcfadl]

You should absolutely be able to feel the exhaust output from all 4 pipes if you've changed to dynamic. Perhaps they do close after a couple of minutes but I have done this myself.

Started up, changed to dynamic, felt for output and then unplugged the valves. I would do one final check on a cold start tomorrow morning and if you are still not feeling any output after cycling back through to dynamic, your valves are stuck closed. Probably just a coding thing as opposed to dodgy motors I'm sure!

I surely hope so. I’ll give it a check when I head out early in the morning.

I ran it a few hours ago, as I had to pop out. It just feels off. There’s no pops any more in low revs and the dsg farts have pretty much disappeared on gear changes. Even when hitting 6-7k revs on gear change with my foot planted. Then just general sound of the car is like driving a 1L eco-boost .

I’ve got it booked into a tuning garage tomorrow, just to see if they can see anything on the diag, and possibly reverse my mistake. I hope it’s something as simple as the valves not opening. It’s just such a significant decrease in sound and it feels less snappy in dynamic now in terms of how much throttle is needed.

this is my first car of this calibre so I have no idea what to expect in these scenarios I guess

 

[mcfadl]

Quick update. The valves are stuck closed on the exhaust. I took it into the garage and their software won’t let them have any control over it for some reason

I’m now pretty stuck with what to do next

 

[mcfadl]

UPDATE - All Fixed. (I think) haha.

Popped into another garage but they couldn't fix it using VCDS either, as the system was saying that the valves were open, but for some reason they were stuck closed.

We went through the OBDeleven app and ignored the apps section, and went directly into long coding, repeated the steps for locking them open and worked a treat. Now its back to normal. No idea why changing the throttle response altered the exhaust valves.

 

[AlS3BE]

Good result.
maybe in future leave the obd11 apps alone
I use obd11 as it’s convenient compared to lugging laptop and vcds cable but I’m mainly using it for a tiny bit of coding and fault reading as not all obd readers have description for manufacturer specific codes.
you are not the first to have ******** something up with obd11 and won’t be the last.

 

[george forbes]

UPDATE - All Fixed. (I think) haha.

Popped into another garage but they couldn't fix it using VCDS either, as the system was saying that the valves were open, but for some reason they were stuck closed.

We went through the OBDeleven app and ignored the apps section, and went directly into long coding, repeated the steps for locking them open and worked a treat. Now its back to normal. No idea why changing the throttle response altered the exhaust valves.

As I mentioned earlier it's happened to a few people now using the apps , stick to the long coding .

 

[mcfadl]

Thanks for all the help guys! Note to self, STEER CLEAR OF THE APPS. Haha

 

[AlS3BE]

Thanks for all the help guys! Note to self, STEER CLEAR OF THE APPS. Haha

Lucky it wasn’t an expensive mistake. No doubt Audi would want you to buy a whole new exhaust for faulty flaps.

 

[mcfadl]

Lucky it wasn’t an expensive mistake. No doubt Audi would want you to buy a whole new exhaust for faulty flaps.

I’m certainly thankful it wasn’t

 

[JakeUK]

Glad to hear it! Those valves really do make a big difference!

 

[mcfadl]

Glad to hear it! Those valves really do make a big difference!

Absolutely!

 

[AlS3BE]

Was doing some live data readings in car for other stuff and thought I look at the flaps.
It’s a bit smarter than open at certain Rev range.
In dynamic and gearbox in D only one flap is open and one closed but on overrun both opens up. When Revs build it opens both but for most it keeps 1 open. in S both are more or less open all the time.
in the other modes like comfort and auto for the most part both flaps are closed Until certain revs and on overrun it does open and close. Even gearbox in S doesn’t open them up.
I’m sure there’s other parameter like old, throttle positions etc it takes account of but thought I’d share my interesting observations

 

[mcfadl]

Was doing some live data readings in car for other stuff and thought I look at the flaps.
It’s a bit smarter than open at certain Rev range.
In dynamic and gearbox in D only one flap is open and one closed but on overrun both opens up. When Revs build it opens both but for most it keeps 1 open. in S both are more or less open all the time.
in the other modes like comfort and auto for the most part both flaps are closed Until certain revs and on overrun it does open and close. Even gearbox in S doesn’t open them up.
I’m sure there’s other parameter like old, throttle positions etc it takes account of but thought I’d share my interesting observations

This is interesting for sure! Since I opened up my valves permanently, the sound has been quite temperamental.

The roar of the engine is back, but only in higher revs. Sometimes it’s still super quiet, especially when idling in P / N modes.

I’m starting to think there may be an issue with the soundaktor, as changing engine sound setting in the car using the individual mode, does absolutely nothing.