488 488 Pista poor exhaust noise with closed valves

I too delivery of my Pista this week (car delivered in Germany) and I am really disappointed about the engine noise when the exhaust valves are closed below 3,500 rpm.

When valves are open above 3,500 rpm and at idle, noise is nice and aggressive.

Is there any reliable solution (i.e not creating electronic issues) to avoid the exhaust valve closure and have the valves permanently open?

 

No pun intended. May be just drive harder with paddle shift only?

You are not comparing it to GT3RS, are you?

Don't do that.

 

Unplug the exhaust valves. I've done it and it works

 

My dealer advised that they will open the valves so they stay open always.

 

I have the new Forza valve controller system which allows the choice of stock control of valves or valves always opened and am very very happy with it. I still find there are times when its nice to run it in stock setting which keeps the valves closed off throttle as on longer trips with them open all the time it can wear you down if you have long sections of freeway to cover in between the good stuff. But i do hear you in that the car sounds totally pathetic and is rather soul less in traffic and when driving it around town. Was VERY disappointing beforehand but problem now solved thankfully. I was very seriously considering selling it if i couldnt fix it to where i was able to control the valves to my own liking - and im not joking. So i thank forza very much for coming up with this solution or i most likely wouldnt own it today and i mean it. It was like driving a lexus without sound deadening before.....bloody terrible for a car like this.

Again this situation is just another example how Ferrari has failed miserably to package the car up correctly to deliver the raw edgy sensations you’d expect given the type of car it is. Very disappointing (and i mean VERY) especially after driving a Gt Porsche which is perfectly sorted out with no such issues. Ferrari really need to get their act together imho as they are a long way back from where they need to be in this area. Its beyond a joke at the $ they ask for these cars - no excuse.

 

Cheapest option is unplug and pin the exhaust vacuum lines so valves are always open. It's worked for me in the past.

 

I had the dealership do this as soon as I bought car. I knew I would never need them shut so didnt want to waste the money on a controller. Sounds so much better now

 

Agree unplugging them is certainly the cheapest solution but the cheapest solution is not the best solution. The controller isn't a waste of money in any sense of the word particularly when you weigh everything up and, consider the huge dollars paid for the car.

The controller is actually a bargain and I would rate is as THE best mod anyone could fit to this car as it retains the option of stock setting which is actually the setting which provides the optimum performance out of the engine whilst providing for those times when driving the car around town slowly off throttle or under very light throttle. So when driving the Pista on a circuit or out with the boys in the hills having the engine at its peak is desirably exactly where you would want it to be, and not in any compromised state.

Essentially unplugging the valves on an engine like this is akin to scrimping for regular fuel for the car when super is available.

 

I assume you did this on a Pista, right?

There are no bugs with the electronics of the car in general after unplugging the valve controller?

Thanks for your info!



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Thanks for the recommendation about this solution from Forza [emoji106]

Does the electronics of your Pista still work fine with this system? No bugs from time to time?



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Perfectly fine. Was advised to use the controller judiciously during regular driving and never on the track or when consistently under full throttle loads. He's the head tech here (30 years Ferrari) and is the go to for all the other techs for any problems they can't resolve. He worked with Steve (Forza) to get the system working properly. He said don't even think about pegging the valves open permanently on this car. But of course others are free to do as they choose as their techs may know better.
.

 

Yes, the Capristo controller, which allows you to open and close at your convenience. It is about $1k installed. However, I drive it in manual and race mode, which seem to keep things pretty aggressive.

The Forza controller should do the trick as well. I actually purchased a Forza for my old F12 and never got around to installing it.


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Agree if you drive the car aggressively all the time your don't need to do anything to the valves as the noise isn't any issue in this circumstance.

At the time when I got my Pista there was no controller available that would work successfully in the car without throwing CELor putting it into limp but Imagine since Forza worked their way around the systems using my car as the guinea pig so too may have Capristo using someone else's car or by copying what Forza did to mine, so there may well be two choices now for all I know.

I also found when investigating another exhaust for the car that the available systems also incorporated working valves which tied in with the stock ecu so not to cause limp problems and therefore the lack of volume problem was still there when on light or off throttle situations due to the valves working/closing and it was only when driving the car aggressively that the new system generated more noise.....but again that was mainly due to the higher flow cats which also reportedly throws up a CEL requiring a remap or a diagnostic plug in to clear the cels....although at least the high flow cats didn't throw the car into limp.....just threw cels so long as the valves were controlled by the stock ecu.

I find the Pista loud enough stock when driving it aggressively so the controller is very useful for resolving the lack of sound when not driving aggressively. Deactivating the valves permanently is not what I would do personally on my car knowing the pitfalls but then it comes down to what risks one is prepared to accept.

 

Thanks for your post [emoji106]

What kind of pitfalls do we have with the permanent deactivation of the valves?



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It's on a GTB but would be same on Pista. No bugs at all and Ferrari tech said they do this mod quite often. From experience of driving many cars I know I would never drive with valves closed, also most likely I will go with an aftermarket exhaust at some point and it will be a valveless system. I wish the the 488 was like my Lotus is or my Huracan was, by changing modes in those cars you could keep valves open

 

He was explaining it was all to do with Ferrari's delicate tuning of the engine and the sensors which monitor and control the fuel and the boost and, the balancing act between the valves, turbos if altered will affect these fuel and other settings. Look I understand there are a lot of experts and opinions here and I respect that but I'm personally inclined to heed the word of a 30 year Ferrari tech clearly in close regular communication with his counterparts in Italy and he said definitely do not go there. He comes across as genuinely humble and very measured in his thinking based upon what he knows - no swollen ego. Anyway everyone is free do as they choose, save whatever money they think they can save, listen to whoever they want....I'm perfectly good with it. The advice given was clearly with my best interests at heart knowing how I drive my cars and what I expect so I'm following what he felt was the best thing to do even with the controller. And fwiw he is not anti modding - just not doing stuff which has any chance of not ending well. He was even looking forward to installing the new system with high flow cats for me but also knew it would throw CELS and for me to be prepared for that.

PS and no a GTB is not nearly as sensitive as the Pista so I was assured. However even with the GTB it will lose a degree of performance with the valves permanently pegged. The techs here also do a lot of stuff like exhausts, lowering and the likes .....so nothing new there. But certain changes will have knock on affects. He was explaining with F8 its a whole new ballgame - way worse with the way the valves and gpf work....cant be played with at all. Funny thing is I heard another members say a tech their way said you can disconnect the valves permanently on an F8 and Ive since been assured that tech is misinformed badly. Maybe that level of tech over there will report to this level of tech for advice when the crap hits the fan and he can't figure out why it is so. I guess after 30 years as a reference point for all others he gets to know certain things that the other grasshoppers will find out in due course.

 

Found the exhaust note sorely lacking, plugged or not.

 

Yeah, the RPM level in RACE for valves open is 2500 and so pretty easy to keep them open if you drive in manual and keep the revs like a sports car needs them.

 

If you are really buying all that then why are you willing to put in a controller that leaves valves open when car wants them shut? If you drive on the aggressive side valves will be open most of the time so I don't see how having them open at low RPM is going to have a negative effect? People have been doing this mod for years on different cars and never seen issues. The sound constantly changing was driving me nuts and am very happy to do away with that

 

The tech at my dealer advised that leaving the valves continuously open has no negative effects. At factory setting, the valves open at start up and then close until 3500RPM at which point they open again. Leaving them open continuously means that after start up, they are remain always open regrdless of RPM.

 

I heard something about reduced back pressure in low RPMs can slightly reduce performance when accelerating from a standstill. However, I imagine it would be minimal, especially from a car that has so much torque.


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scott61 have you ever driven a Pista with valves held open using a controller and compared how it behaves in different sporty driving conditions when coming on and off throttle through corners vs with the valves left to the devices of the stock ECU? Or are you referring to your GTB which is a much different animal?

Also, the valves close on throttle lift off no matter what RPM you are doing.

The environment within the engine is controlled by the ECU and sensors so altering the environment within the engine which those systems are set up for has a knock on effect. It isn't all just about sound either. The engine was set this way to perform the way it does and to produce the claimed numbers. Some may not be able to notice any difference as the engine does indeed produce a lot of HP and torques which many may never use so in that respect some may have a point what does it all matter anyway.

Anyway I realize there will always be experts more knowledgeable than the Ferrari engineers who designed the engine in Pista and, who set it up they way they did, which is why I've always maintained one should do whatever one feels best doing.

Op asked if there were any solutions and I offered my experience on that. Insofar as the varying stories from the techs, I'm satisfied that my tech knows what he is talking about. He's always offered measured thinking based upon his training and knowledge acquired over his tenure with the brand. If anyone here feels he doesn't know what he's talking about then fine by me. My sound problem is solved to satisfaction so I'm all good.

 

certainly after coming from a Perf - no comparison

 

Wonder why he didn't listan to a Pista IRL before ordering one of the best specced and colored Pistas? No disrespect intended but it's a shame to get rid of such a striking blue Pista after a couple weeks. Maybe none had been delivered by the time he placed his order.

Hearing the F8 IRL was a deal-breaker for me. Might be tolerable in a couple years at $100K off sticker.

Wonder if Dusty regrets getting rid of his gorgeous Performante Spyder?

 

My thoughts exactly on all those points. It makes zero sense why dusty even bothered with the car in the first place given his clear criteria and only expectation from a car appears to be for it to make as much noise as possible. There is also no way can I buy his perf drove nearly as well as the Pista does. So it's as much a head scratcher to why he bought it as to why he sold it.

Maybe he had to buy it as an entry card into a v12 gts? Who will even know what went on behind the scenes - he's always pretty tight lipped and of very few words.