550x2

I took my 2019 GTC in for annual service and I get it back and it starts as quiet as a E class now! I asked them what they did to ruin the sound of my car and they claim nothing was done. I call BS! For four years every time I start the car I step on the brake and push the start button and it roars to life with crackles and pops. After they did nothing it is totally quiet! Anyone experienced this? Any ideas what might have been done? I’m going to take the car in as soon as time allows but I want some possible ideas beforehand. Thanks if you can help!
to add insult to injury, I get an email asking me to give them high ratings on a survey! How do they walk with ***** that big?!

Orcbolg

I'm going to guess that something they did changed the valve position on startup.

UCIMBZ

I thought valves always close at shut down and stay closed (default position) until you push the button and open them.

Orcbolg

I can't remember for sure if the valves are 100% closed on startup, as it's been so long since I last looked into it, but I know that some cars, in certain markets, remember the last position, and others had some sort of emotion startup.

W205C43PFL

OP, if it is just the valves then I guess the easy fix would be to get an exhaust valve module, hopefully other behaviours weren't altered.
https://mbworld.org/forums/coupe-roa...ntech-evm.html

det000

Not sure if this feature exists in the 2019s but in the 2020s, you have this. Maybe give it a try?

Function of Emotion Start

• Start the vehicle with the start/stop button (/ page 103) and simultaneously pull one of the steering wheel paddle shifters 1 or 2.
  • The idle speed is increased briefly when starting the engine.
  • The exhaust gas flaps are opened (sporty characteristic) (/ page 109).

Skilly

Valve settings is about the only thing that can be done programmatically to quiet your engine. Doubt they did anything with that, or it would be all over the forum but let us know!

To make sure its not this, the valve fully open start is only during a cold start and from an OEM perspective, no setting will make that permanent. It usually lasts for about 30 seconds or so and then defaults back to a more conservative setting even with the valves open selected (again, OEM parameters). If the car was run and has any kind of heat, you won't experience that open valve start - even hours afterwards.

The only time you can really expect to hear it, again for a short burst, is where the car has been sitting for overnight. Short of that, you need an EVM.

thebishman

Wasn’t there talk of an ECU tune for the ‘19’s that was being done by dealerships as a TSB that deliberately stopped the loudness on cold starts? I swear I thought we discussed this a couple of years ago.

Skilly

most of the chatter I had seen was about quieter default settings and of course the OPF. For cold start, my 2020 was the same as my 2018 in terms of noise factor...TSBs are tricky because they aren't tagged to serial numbers and I don't see anything in my MB history.

E55Greasemonkey

Did they do any software recalls?

Skilly

Recalls are different from a TSB.

here is where you can search a recall: https://www.mbusa.com/en/recall
we have a TSB search area on the forum here: https://mbworld.org/forums/tsb_recall/tsbs

LAsunset

yep happened to mine. I was chasing this down and forgot to post an update from last year. I found someone in the W205 thread with similar exp .

My dealer updated my s/w last year and it muted the car at startup when I picked up. It got a bit better but never like before. Also the update activated the emotion start feature which never existed on my car. I chased this back to the dealer's shop foreman and also MBUSA. Word is that with any DME update since late 2020 or something, MBUSA has added a logic to quiet down the exhaust at start up even for pre-2020 GTs. The foreman showed me the code on his platform which unfortunately I am not allowed take a pic and he can't reverse the logic either. He mentioned MBUSA did this because sadly some GT owners complained the car was too loud at start ups. Can MBUSA reverse that? Foreman said possibly if enough GT owners complain otherwise to reinstate the sound. So complain away to your dealer.

Orcbolg

Found the SL buyers.

550x2

Thanks for that definitive info. The thing that gets me mad is they deny doing any updates at all. I definitely will complain to the dealer as this was one of my favorite things about the car. I’m going to take it in and say it’s broken because it does not sound like it did when I bought it new and I want it fixed. I think they would have to return it to how it was when I bought it. We’ll see.

MikeGLS450

If it’s not the exhaust valve what else could it be???

mjr24

BMW did this on a lot of their models, too. I had a F90 M5 (bought in 2020) and somewhere along the line they did an update that severely quieted the exhaust (I think the service where it happened to mine was in 2021). M5 owners were NOT happy because it was done under the guise of a "gas flap" update. They had started doing this on EU cars so the US M5 owners thought they were safe from that update but it eventually started happening here, too. No way to reverse it short of tuning it. Basically it was a remap of the ECU. They claim they did it for better gas mileage (and I did get 1 MPG more after the update) but would have never traded 1MPG for what it sounded like originally.

MikeGLS450

That SUCKS!

Orcbolg

Only other thing I could guess would be iff they are limiting startup rooms, and that's doing it, but I'm sure it's valve related.

MikeGLS450

Start up rooms? U mean RPMs??

mjr24

valves have nothing to do with pops and burbles though…..it just makes them more muffled. Pops are burbles are related to ECU….which is the M5 people had to have a tune in order to enable those again.

Orcbolg

Pops and burbles we're only part of his issue, the main one was volume.

Skilly

there are no pops and burbles on start up...

sodhigtc

There are big ones on my 2020 GTC when I do emotion start and the car is warm. Did this before I installed EVM too.

W205C43PFL

If that is the case I guess try to revert to the previous stock version, I heard RJ Automotive can do it I never tried it myself.

Skilly

Pops and burbles are really experienced during downshift or with throttle/release actions, while unused fuel escapes into the exhaust output. I haven't tried the emotion start, but Im assuming its just a valves open and a higher idle setting; combined to give...well, emotion.

These are all overcome with a tune and an EVM which most people opt for, but that said, it does suck that they (without notification) taketh away....