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BMW 5-Series (G30) Forum 2017+ BMW 5 Series (G30) General Discussions 540 Exhaust Valve

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      10-11-2021, 03:52 PM   #1
peteinpa
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540 Exhaust Valve

Hi folks. Under what conditions should I see the passenger side exhaust valve open? I tried putting it in sport at startup and ran around back to check but it was still closed.

Don't really hear a difference in the exhaust note when switching from comfort to sport or sport plus. Want to confirm it is working.

Thanks
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      10-11-2021, 03:58 PM   #2
maDjzo
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Plenty of info out there, gotta search.. In short, the passenger flap opens under heavy boost/pressure, aggressive acceleration etc.


https://g30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1547525

https://g30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1668471

https://g30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1605043
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      10-11-2021, 05:00 PM   #3
peteinpa
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Quote:
Originally Posted by maDjzo View Post
Plenty of info out there, gotta search.. In short, the passenger flap opens under heavy boost/pressure, aggressive acceleration etc.


https://g30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1547525

https://g30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1668471

https://g30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1605043
Thanks for the info.
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      10-12-2021, 05:03 AM   #4
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Find a nice open road in Mexico and put it in sport and put your foot in it. You will hear the difference.
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      10-19-2021, 10:01 PM   #5
eightball805
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ignore the talk about fuses, unless you want to add a mod to select when to open it the #1 easiest way to open the exhaust valve is to remove the spring clip linking the valve to the actuator and then using metal wire (eg: safety wire) to secure the valve open. it is not too loud, I find it to be just right.
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      10-22-2021, 07:10 AM   #6
peteinpa
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eightball805 View Post
ignore the talk about fuses, unless you want to add a mod to select when to open it the #1 easiest way to open the exhaust valve is to remove the spring clip linking the valve to the actuator and then using metal wire (eg: safety wire) to secure the valve open. it is not too loud, I find it to be just right.
Thanks I may give that a try.
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      10-22-2021, 09:01 AM   #7
I3LaZeN
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eightball805 View Post
ignore the talk about fuses, unless you want to add a mod to select when to open it the #1 easiest way to open the exhaust valve is to remove the spring clip linking the valve to the actuator and then using metal wire (eg: safety wire) to secure the valve open. it is not too loud, I find it to be just right.
Why ignore the fuse talk?

I have the Carly app and there's an option to open/close the flap. I opened it and then pulled out 1 fuse and it stayed open forever and ever. Pretty simple way to keep it open all the time.
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      10-22-2021, 11:44 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by I3LaZeN View Post
Why ignore the fuse talk?

I have the Carly app and there's an option to open/close the flap. I opened it and then pulled out 1 fuse and it stayed open forever and ever. Pretty simple way to keep it open all the time.
I did the same thing, but used Bimmerlink instead of Carly. I used the app to open the valve, then I pulled the 7.5A fuse specified in the previous links, and the valve has stayed open ever since.

Just to be clear, I only used the OBDII connector and Bimmerlink long enough to open the valve and remove the fuse. After that, I disconnected them from my car. This is on a 2021 540xi

Regards,
Danny
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      10-22-2021, 03:52 PM   #9
I3LaZeN
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chesie View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by I3LaZeN View Post
Why ignore the fuse talk?

I have the Carly app and there's an option to open/close the flap. I opened it and then pulled out 1 fuse and it stayed open forever and ever. Pretty simple way to keep it open all the time.
I did the same thing, but used Bimmerlink instead of Carly. I used the app to open the valve, then I pulled the 7.5A fuse specified in the previous links, and the valve has stayed open ever since.

Just to be clear, I only used the OBDII connector and Bimmerlink long enough to open the valve and remove the fuse. After that, I disconnected them from my car. This is on a 2021 540xi

Regards,
Danny
Yep did the same on my 2018 540i.

It also bothered me that when the exhaust smoke came out, it was only coming out from one side instead of both so opening it up and pulling the fuse resolved that as well lol.

This is probably the easiest method to be honest. I cant remember the fuse # but its on the forums here somewhere.
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      10-22-2021, 09:48 PM   #10
eightball805
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because that method requires you to 1) get one of those apps and 2) open your fuse box and pull a fuse (while the car is running IIRC).

pulling the clip requires nothing but metal wire, valve open forever, no messing with apps or fuses.
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      10-23-2021, 08:59 AM   #11
I3LaZeN
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eightball805 View Post
because that method requires you to 1) get one of those apps and 2) open your fuse box and pull a fuse (while the car is running IIRC).

pulling the clip requires nothing but metal wire, valve open forever, no messing with apps or fuses.
Hm.. it was pretty simple pulling the fuse. The fuse panel is right in the trunk. If you have someone local with the app, Im sure they'd do it free. Atleast I would. It took like 3 minutes total.

Flaps open on exhaust question https://g30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1668471

I just looked at this thread and did it.
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      10-23-2021, 11:30 PM   #12
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that may work just fine and is not overly complicated, but if you want the #1 easiest method that requires no special programs, no special tools, and no disassembly and can be done by yourself in under a min.
step 1) take pliers in hand and pull spring clip at valve
step 2) wire valve open.
done.
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      10-26-2021, 05:28 AM   #13
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I remember way back when I was a young fella, I had a Vespa P200, the most powerful Vespa available at the time. I was always tinkering around with it and decided to put a sports exhaust on it. The only thing this exhaust done was improve the sound coming out the back and I was overjoyed. Cut to four or five months later and my lovely Vespa packed in. Gearbox and engine completely shot. This new exhaust had a different compression ratio than the OEM exhaust and had done irreversible damage.

I took the spring clip off the exhaust of my G30 540i a while back and held back the flap with a some wire, then remembered the above story from my youth. I quickly reverted back and replaced the clip back into place. There is a reason why that clip is there and it's not to stop you from getting joy from the sound of your cars.

There lies the moral of the story.
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      10-26-2021, 08:31 PM   #14
eightball805
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Quote:
Originally Posted by G30 545e View Post
I remember way back when I was a young fella, I had a Vespa P200, the most powerful Vespa available at the time. I was always tinkering around with it and decided to put a sports exhaust on it. The only thing this exhaust done was improve the sound coming out the back and I was overjoyed. Cut to four or five months later and my lovely Vespa packed in. Gearbox and engine completely shot. This new exhaust had a different compression ratio than the OEM exhaust and had done irreversible damage.

I took the spring clip off the exhaust of my G30 540i a while back and held back the flap with a some wire, then remembered the above story from my youth. I quickly reverted back and replaced the clip back into place. There is a reason why that clip is there and it's not to stop you from getting joy from the sound of your cars.

There lies the moral of the story.
no.
your vespa was a 2 stroke (pretty sure) single cylinder that likely had back-pressure requirements that your new exhaust did not satisfy which let the exhaust flow out more freely than was designed for that motor (look up how a 2 stroke operates on youtube to better understand why that is important). The engine in your BMW is almost nothing like that vespa engine, you do not need back-pressure, your engine would run better strait piped with no exhaust restrictions (you can find many videos about this on youtube yet again). The only reason BMW added an exhaust valve was to make the car quieter during normal operation but still have some more aggresive sound when someone wanted to go fast, many of the people that buy these cars are not like us and want it to be pretty tame sounding when they roll up to the country club or wherever they go nowadays, the people around here want it to sound aggressive all the time, opening the valve only changes the sound and likely adds some fraction of a horsepower from better flow.
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      10-27-2021, 02:11 PM   #15
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Just did this mod. Took me less than 10 minutes. I have a 2021 550Xi which also lets you control the valve from Idrive setting called Engine Sound. I could have just easily set the "Engine Sound" to sporty and then the valve remains open all the time, regardless of whether I'm in comfort or Sport mode.

But the issue with that is with the "Engine Noise" set to sporty also enhances the active sound (fake sound from speakers) and makes it very boomy and personally I don't like it.

So with this mod, I can keep the car in comfort mode so I don't get too much active sound and still hear the real exhaust crackles and pops.

Thanks to everyone who posted detailed directions on how to get this done.

Very nice !
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      10-28-2021, 07:31 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stryder011 View Post
Just did this mod. Took me less than 10 minutes. I have a 2021 550Xi which also lets you control the valve from Idrive setting called Engine Sound. I could have just easily set the "Engine Sound" to sporty and then the valve remains open all the time, regardless of whether I'm in comfort or Sport mode.

But the issue with that is with the "Engine Noise" set to sporty also enhances the active sound (fake sound from speakers) and makes it very boomy and personally I don't like it.

So with this mod, I can keep the car in comfort mode so I don't get too much active sound and still hear the real exhaust crackles and pops.

Thanks to everyone who posted detailed directions on how to get this done.

Very nice !
That's available on M and M performance cars. You can also use BimmerCode to turn off the fake engine noise, but keep the valve open in sport mode using that engine noise feature in iDrive.

It's possible to code in the M performance engine nose (aka open the valve). I'm not sure if that's available via expert mode for the G30 though
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