PSE Failure?

[Lorne @ Vancouver]

I love the PSE on my 07 997S . . . the ability to turn it on and off with the Sport mode button, or run it full time by pulling the engine bay plug.

Yesterday I was in the car and noticed that, when activating Sport mode, I was not getting the audible change in sound. Messing around with it in the garage last night, pulling the plug in the engine bay did not make any difference either. Instead there was a bit of a rattling, buzzy sound at idle and under throttle.

On Tuesday last week I ran on the track at Pacific Raceways (Seattle area) and had the PSE on full time all day, with no problems.

Question -- has anyone out there had a problem with their PSE failing like this? I will check fuses this morning, and it is under warranty so no big deal, but I am curious as to what is going on.

Thanks for any advice.

Lorne

[AP 997S]

There are a number of elements that could cause the failure for the PSE to change states. The most common would be the fuse, the PSE Vacuum Solenoid or muffler vacuum actuators. I doubt if its the actuators because both of them failing concurrently would be uncommon. So I'd say fuse or solenoid.

What is puzzling is that when you pull the solenoid the mufflers didn't go to the 'loud' state.

Running in the PSE loud state during your track day shouldn't have any effect.

I have heard about the muffler failings on occasion; 1) the internal 'gate' the controls exhaust flow or 2) the baffles inside the muffler chambers. Once again both mufflers failing at the same time would be a long shot.

Have your dealer check it out since you're still under warranty.

Keep us posted regarding the cause and fix.

Good Luck!

[Lorne @ Vancouver]

There are a number of elements that could cause the failure for the PSE to change states. The most common would be the fuse, the PSE Vacuum Solenoid or muffler vacuum actuators. I doubt if its the actuators because both of them failing concurrently would be uncommon. So I'd say fuse or solenoid.

What is puzzling is that when you pull the solenoid the mufflers didn't go to the 'loud' state.

Running in the PSE loud state during your track day shouldn't have any effect.

I have heard about the muffler failings on occasion; 1) the internal 'gate' the controls exhaust flow or 2) the baffles inside the muffler chambers. Once again both mufflers failing at the same time would be a long shot.

Have your dealer check it out since you're still under warranty.

Keep us posted regarding the cause and fix.

Good Luck!

Thanks for the response / input. Driving more with it today, it appears to be more random. Sometimes when turned "off", I am getting the PSE sound, other times when turned "on", it is quiet. All the other sport functions seem to work fine.

I'll post whatever I learn from the dealer.

Lorne

[AP 997S]

You must know that the PSE switches to the 'low sound' state automatically (DME driven) whenever the car is driven at low speeds. I think it's less than 30 mph. They do this to conform to German noise abatement regulations.

[Lorne @ Vancouver]

You must know that the PSE switches to the 'low sound' state automatically (DME driven) whenever the car is driven at low speeds. I think it's less than 30 mph. They do this to conform to German noise abatement regulations.

Yes ... I do know this. Not what is going on here.

LCB

[PAULSPEED]

Maybe there is something going on that is

similar with this post.

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=27909

Look at the last picture.

Paul

[berty987]

The return springs (that make the system loud) on the PSE are not very strong as the vacuum to close the valves is taken from the inlet manifold and therefore not great at tickover or low RPM. The PSE system uses the same actuator solenoid type for the PSE as it does for the variocam. As far as im aware failure of these solenoids is rare. A fractured air line will result in a loud rather than quiet setting so you can rule this out. There are two actuators on the silencers, one for each side, you should be able to see / hear the flaps move by looking at the pivot pin of the flap from under the rear of the car. If you use a permanent marker to put a line across the pin when the engine is switched off and exhaust is cold , its easy to see if both flaps are moving when the PSE is activated. I have fitted an auxilliary button to control the PSE independantly of the sport/pse button on the dash. This allows the PSE to remain in loud mode regardless of road speed and ensures there is no need to reset the PSE each time the car is started. The PSE can be returned to quiet mode by a simple press of the overide switch. I posted a thread on the subject elsewhere.

[mghorayeb]

I've had a similar problem - i.e. pressing "Sport" doesn't make exhaust louder. My technician found that vacuum solenoid had failed. This was replaced, and things returned to normal...for about a month. Now, the second vacuum solenoid has failed. Any ideas?

Edited April 2, 2013 by mghorayeb