ExhaustMeister Installed

[AGS]

Originally Posted by MCM5

did some testing on OEM valve opening & closure.

cold start: valve closed at idle
after driving & engine warmed up: valve open at idle

tried several times, it's the same result.

if that's the case, installing exhaustmeister won't much of a difference.

how do those valves actually works ?

Originally Posted by DrewM5

I tested out your theory and it did not hold in my case. Driving around all day yesterday doing errands, so car was fully warmed up. Strated her up, hot the "open" button on the EM and the tone deepened, so my valves must have been closed prior to that.

Originally Posted by dhirm5

It seems US cars may be different than others in the valve operation. Pretty sure I've seen other non US owners report the valve remaining open after warm up. If so, this should be able to be coded.

Originally Posted by Blue.Thunder

But the valves usually close while driving and they open depending from the throttle and the RPM !!!

To answer some of the recent posts I quoted above, here's a diagram that was posted in another thread regarding the exhaust valves that shows when the exhaust valves are open or closed:

Legend
1 = Gear
2 = Exhaust Valve Closed
3 = Exhaust Valve Open
4 = Engine Speed

[Blue.Thunder]

Originally Posted by MCM5

Blue.Thunder,
Have you installed yours yet ?

Mine arrived with the unit inside the metal case coming loose (supposedly glued to the inside of the metal case, but it didn't hold). I had to open up the case & fix it with heavy duty double sided tape.
Didn't have the time to install it to the car yet.

Mine arrived last weekend. It was perfectly okay, nothing loose at all.
I installed it right away, it took me about 20 min.

And indeed, the ExhaustMeister is working!
When you push "on" the valves are permanently open. In Idle standing still I hear no real difference since with the CP the valves are already open.

But while driving there is indeed a difference in sound. It is more deep and bassy! Especially at low RPM you can hear the more powerful sound when you go off the throttle. At high speed resp. full throttle there is hardly a difference between the ExhaustMeister and stock (in my case CP).

In total, the sound is slightly better! At first I was excited!

But there is a BIG PROBLEM and I don't know if I'm the only one who recognized it:
The ExhaustMeister seems to interfer with the B&O and the Radio reception!

While driving and listening to radio I wondered why so many hissing sounds are suddenly heard. And it were the same radio stations I used to listen to. In fact, the EM seems to interfer with the antenna in some way I don't know.
And the other sources of the B&O are concerned as well (CD, USB, Online Entertainment). Overall the sound of the B&O is weaker, the bass is gone, the heights are heavily hissing, voices are hardly to understand... the power and brilliance of the B&O is gone. And that's not a problem of the equaliser settings!

After all that's not worth it in my opinion. I love to listen to music and I WANT a perfect B&O. And the exhaust sound of the CP with more throttle is the same as with EM, in my opinion.
So I can do without the EM and deinstalled it.

So, if anyone of you guys wants to have a brand new and fully functional ExhaustMeister, you can PM me.

[Spinny02]

Originally Posted by Blue.Thunder

Mine arrived last weekend. It was perfectly okay, nothing loose at all.
I installed it right away, it took me about 20 min.

And indeed, the ExhaustMeister is working!
When you push "on" the valves are permanently open. In Idle standing still I hear no real difference since with the CP the valves are already open.

But while driving there is indeed a difference in sound. It is more deep and bassy! Especially at low RPM you can hear the more powerful sound when you go off the throttle. At high speed resp. full throttle there is hardly a difference between the ExhaustMeister and stock (in my case CP).

In total, the sound is slightly better! At first I was excited!

But there is a BIG PROBLEM and I don't know if I'm the only one who recognized it:
The ExhaustMeister seems to interfer with the B&O and the Radio reception!

While driving and listening to radio I wondered why so many hissing sounds are suddenly heard. And it were the same radio stations I used to listen to. In fact, the EM seems to interfer with the antenna in some way I don't know.
And the other sources of the B&O are concerned as well (CD, USB, Online Entertainment). Overall the sound of the B&O is weaker, the bass is gone, the heights are heavily hissing, voices are hardly to understand... the power and brilliance of the B&O is gone. And that's not a problem of the equaliser settings!

After all that's not worth it in my opinion. I love to listen to music and I WANT a perfect B&O. And the exhaust sound of the CP with more throttle is the same as with EM, in my opinion.
So I can do without the EM and deinstalled it.

So, if anyone of you guys wants to have a brand new and fully functional ExhaustMeister, you can PM me.

This means you have a bad ground. Check your EM ground wire to make sure it has good metal contact or change it's location.

[MCM5]

Originally Posted by Blue.Thunder

............................

After all that's not worth it in my opinion. I love to listen to music and I WANT a perfect B&O. And the exhaust sound of the CP with more throttle is the same as with EM, in my opinion.
So I can do without the EM and deinstalled it.
..............................

Giving up on it so soon ? It could be grounding issue as Spinny02 said. Where exactly did you ground it ? Followed the installation manual ?

[MCM5]

Originally Posted by B-1Pilot

how small is the actual unit? I might take mine out of the aluminum housing and hide it under the carpet with 3m tape

Let me find out next week when I have the time to get my hands on it.

Update:
The inside unit (the black one in the pic) measures : 6.5 cm long x 4.5 cm wide x 3 cm high.

There is a little metal cube (on the left of the pic) that is bolted to the aluminum housing. Make sure you take care of that if you want to eliminate the aluminum case.

[Blue.Thunder]

Originally Posted by MCM5

Giving up on it so soon ? It could be grounding issue as Spinny02 said. Where exactly did you ground it ? Followed the installation manual ?

In my opinion the grounding was ok. There was another brown wire on the screw as grounding I connected it to. Maybe I try the grounding on another screw but I think this is not the problem.

[Rickstah]

For grounding, I used a screw on the 'back' of the left taillight.

[Spinny02]

Originally Posted by Blue.Thunder

In my opinion the grounding was ok. There was another brown wire on the screw as grounding I connected it to. Maybe I try the grounding on another screw but I think this is not the problem.

If you unplug EM completely (all wires) and the humming goes away then It can only be a ground issue. If it's still there with the EM out of then car the go see your service rep. Let us know what you come up with and good luck.

[DrKevM5]

I suspect your problem may be unrelated to the EM.

[skioutwest]

Quick question all. I had a 335 a couple years ago and did a mod where you just unplug the wire that leads to the vacuum sensor and it kept the flap open permanently. The drawback was that it would throw an error code that the dealer saw, but no CEL would come on. This mod worked like a charm and provided a noticeably deeper tone.

I would suspect that the vacuum valve works the same way on all BMWs. On the 335, when the sensor was powered the valve was closed...with no power (i.e. with the wire unplugged) it was open. Would seem to me that this is Exhaust Meister is a $130 on/off switch?

I have my M5 on order, or else I would try this myself. Anyone ever give this a shot?

-Mark

[Careful Driver]

Originally Posted by Blue.Thunder

In my opinion the grounding was ok. There was another brown wire on the screw as grounding I connected it to. Maybe I try the grounding on another screw but I think this is not the problem.

Hello,

Was this issue with the B&O resolved? Was it due to grounding?

Also,

As per this thread : http://f10.m5post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=814739 (and this post : http://f10.m5post.com/forums/showpos...7&postcount=19), this sounds like a very cheap $5 mod that one can do themselves without having to spend $129. I'm not saying $129 is not worth for this mod as there is too much electronics involved vs the wire, but am I right to assume that one can accomplish the same thing with the use of a metal wire?

[DrKevM5]

Originally Posted by Careful Driver

Hello,

Was this issue with the B&O resolved? Was it due to grounding?

Also,

As per this thread : http://f10.m5post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=814739 (and this post : http://f10.m5post.com/forums/showpos...p;postcount=19), this sounds like a very cheap $5 mod that one can do themselves without having to spend $129. I'm not saying $129 is not worth for this mod as there is too much electronics involved vs the wire, but am I right to assume that one can accomplish the same thing with the use of a metal wire?

You can absolutely do the same for $5 if you wanted to permanently keep the valve open, but I liked the ability to make it quieter when I wanted to. For me, I had already spent $112k. $150 for adjusting the sound when I wanted it didn't seem like that much of an additional investment.

[Careful Driver]

Originally Posted by DrKevM5

You can absolutely do the same for $5 if you wanted to permanently keep the valve open, but I liked the ability to make it quieter when I wanted to. For me, I had already spent $112k. $150 for adjusting the sound when I wanted it didn't seem like that much of an additional investment.

Do I need to do anything with the vacuum or anything else? Just pull the flap with the wire and tie it around? I read very conflicting views on how this is done (pull the plug, golf tee in the vacuum, etc etc).

Anyways, I also paid $120k for the car, but to me if I can do the same thing myself for $5 a) I get to do something to my car myself which is cool, b) I don't waste money. Just because I can afford a 120k car does not mean I'm going to take 20 dollar bills and throw them out. It's just principle I guess. Same reason why I change my own tires, why I get them balanced in Michelin instead of BMW for 1/4th of the price and I put them on myself for free. Same reason why I do my own maintenance (oil, brakes, diff, etc etc). Not because I can't afford, but I just think a little more than the average Joe and calculate things to the smallest detail

[AGS]

Originally Posted by Careful Driver

Do I need to do anything with the vacuum or anything else? Just pull the flap with the wire and tie it around? I read very conflicting views on how this is done (pull the plug, golf tee in the vacuum, etc etc).

Anyways, I also paid $120k for the car, but to me if I can do the same thing myself for $5 a) I get to do something to my car myself which is cool, b) I don't waste money. Just because I can afford a 120k car does not mean I'm going to take 20 dollar bills and throw them out. It's just principle I guess. Same reason why I change my own tires, why I get them balanced in Michelin instead of BMW for 1/4th of the price and I put them on myself for free. Same reason why I do my own maintenance (oil, brakes, diff, etc etc). Not because I can't afford, but I just think a little more than the average Joe and calculate things to the smallest detail

You don't need to touch the vacuum line. Take a look at my post in the thread you referred to. It's as simple as using some aluminum wire to hold the valve in the open position.

[Careful Driver]

Originally Posted by AGS

You don't need to touch the vacuum line. Take a look at my post in the thread you referred to. It's as simple as using some aluminum wire to hold the valve in the open position.

Thanks and do you know if there is a chance of damaging the system in anyway by forcing the valve to stay open? Is there a motor that tries to close it? Also, is there any specific brand/quality that you recommend for the wire? I'm afraid it may melt or get stuck there because exhaust gets extremely hot.

Thanks.

[AGS]

There is no chance of damage. There is no motor, the pressure from the vacuum line forces the actuator open.

You can use any uncoated aluminum wire. I got some at my local hardware store.

[soooma]

So what happens with
Resonators Delete + Exhaust Meister?
Anybody done both? Please I would appreciate your inpit.

Thx

[Careful Driver]

I did the steel wire mod and the exhaust is much louder now (mine is CP). This also proves that this mod (which cost me $2.99 btw) does exactly what $129 exhaustmeister does. I'm glad I didn't order it. It took me exactly 12 minutes to do both exhausts (I actually timed myself) and it was my first try. Removing the panels in the trunk and programming the remote would have taken me just as long.

Now I realize when I m driving down the road, people keep turning back, so it must be much louder than before

[PhilT3]

Originally Posted by Careful Driver

I did the steel wire mod and the exhaust is much louder now (mine is CP). This also proves that this mod (which cost me $2.99 btw) does exactly what $129 exhaustmeister does. I'm glad I didn't order it. It took me exactly 12 minutes to do both exhausts (I actually timed myself) and it was my first try. Removing the panels in the trunk and programming the remote would have taken me just as long.

Now I realize when I m driving down the road, people keep turning back, so it must be much louder than before

Cool. But isn't the idea of the ExhaustMeister is to have the controllability of the volume? keep the flaps closed for quiet time and keep them open for wild time.....???

[M5essex]

Originally Posted by PhilT3

Cool. But isn't the idea of the ExhaustMeister is to have the controllability of the volume? keep the flaps closed for quiet time and keep them open for wild time.....???

I pretty sure it cant force the value shut. merely override the opening times of the values. ON means values are open and OFF means the valves operate back to stock requirements, depending on RMP, temp etc.

weirdly, my values seem to be open most of the time anyway! I have checked this over dozen times by getting out of the car with the engine still running and they are both open. regardless of any sport or sport+ settings might be engaged. surely they wouldn't then close as I set off again would they?

[soooma]

Originally Posted by M5essex

I pretty sure it cant force the value shut. merely override the opening times of the values. ON means values are open and OFF means the valves operate back to stock requirements, depending on RMP, temp etc.

weirdly, my values seem to be open most of the time anyway! I have checked this over dozen times by getting out of the car with the engine still running and they are both open. regardless of any sport or sport+ settings might be engaged. surely they wouldn't then close as I set off again would they?

Now you are making me feel that my Exhauste Meister ordered and in the way - Is useless! All I know is car is so freaking loud in a good way when in Cold Start and then all is gone in 10-15 seconds and if EM is going to keep it loud all the time like cold start I will be a happy camper again -

[M5essex]

Originally Posted by soooma

Now you are making me feel that my Exhauste Meister ordered and in the way - Is useless! All I know is car is so freaking loud in a good way when in Cold Start and then all is gone in 10-15 seconds and if EM is going to keep it loud all the time like cold start I will be a happy camper again -

hmmm.. i'm not sure mate... the values are shut on cold start up aren't they?? its louder for other reasons, not value control...