Hi all

New to Skoda entirely, just purchased a Superb 268 L&K as my first car other than a Saab. As you can imagine with old Saab's you get good at tinkering. Although I have only had my car a week, one thing is bugging me.

I've been led to believe by other posts that late 2019 cars do not have a valved exhaust (as mine doesnt). Question is, if I were to source the right bits, can I wire them OEM style so they work properly?

Edited 21 May, 20251 yr by SaabDude
Incomplete

Maybe @ApertureS knows about the answer... 🤔

He's a bit like our 'Guru' here, when it goes about retrofitting.😁

Edited 22 May, 20251 yr by Bap33

@SaabDude - wat r u looking to gain with a valved exhaust?
a number of 280 owners with valved exhaust have coded the valves to remain open because it is too quiet when closed.

even with it open, it is not as loud as expected.

the exhaust setup (resonator and mufflers) on a 280 is very different to that on the 272 thanks to the GPF requirements.

if u do go down that path, then u need to consider:-

• if the 272 has the wiring loom for valves?

• if the 272 has the long coding for exhaust valves (01 Engine -> Byte 09 Bit 2)?
  

Edited 22 May, 20251 yr by JR RS

On 22/05/2025 at 04:24, JR RS said:

@SaabDude - wat r u looking to gain with a valved exhaust?
a number of 280 owners with valved exhaust have coded the valves to remain open because it is too quiet when closed.

even with it open, it is not as loud as expected.

the exhaust setup (resonator and mufflers) on a 280 is very different to that on the 272 thanks to the GPF requirements.

if u do go down that path, then u need to consider:-

• if the 272 has the wiring loom for valves?

• if the 272 has the long coding for exhaust valves (01 Engine -> Byte 09 Bit 2)?
  

I was led to believe that my late 2018 was a 272 with a GPF, but it has flaps on the exhaust. Does that make it a 280?

On 21/05/2025 at 21:30, SaabDude said:

Hi all

New to Skoda entirely, just purchased a Superb 268 L&K as my first car other than a Saab. As you can imagine with old Saab's you get good at tinkering. Although I have only had my car a week, one thing is bugging me.

I've been led to believe by other posts that late 2019 cars do not have a valved exhaust (as mine doesnt). Question is, if I were to source the right bits, can I wire them OEM style so they work properly?

If I dont have a GPF the exhaust flaps do very little. Went to code them to keep them open, from what I can see they are already coded open all the time (unless I am doing it wrong)

Theres little that can be done on modern cars to make them sound good, especially with a GPF.

Edited 1 June, 20251 yr by Dooge

Hmmmm. I've never really understood the point of these flaps. Of other marques, those I can recall I’ve noticed them on are both types of Macan and the 335i, and oddly, that only has one, on the left exhaust and, of all cars, the Dodge Charger. On the 280, I've only ever noticed them opening when I’ve first started the car and it’s been idling for few minutes and then when they open, it gets a slightly deeper and throatier note to the exhaust sound. Is that the point of them? Does anyone know if they’re coded to open at specific times, RPM’s or throttle positions? What I do know is the return springs are not that robust and can snap and the OE replacement’s are horrendously expensive, so I bought a load from Ali for sod-all, just in case.

So in effect I need an aftermarket system. Does anyone know of a source that's not outrageously expensive? In due course I intend to fit a better downpipe but unsure if full systems are available

As yours doesn’t have the butterfly valves and you want them, you want to make the car quieter correct?

An aftermarket system might make it louder if anything, so keep that in mind

@Danoid Oh! Is that the purpose of the valves, to make the exhaust quieter? Why, in that case, do mine open when it’s idling? It’s all terribly confusing..😂

This is confusing indeed. To me the car is practically silent and I would have thought the valves were designed to make it somewhat louder. That is the end goal, but only a little louder. It is a Superb after all

7 hours ago, numskull said:

@Danoid Oh! Is that the purpose of the valves, to make the exhaust quieter? Why, in that case, do mine open when it’s idling? It’s all terribly confusing..😂

That’s how it should work, valves closed (well almost) then you turn it to sport and it fully opens

I believe older cars which had them adjusted via the throttle position so when you were giving it the beans it fully opens

Why Skoda would remove it I don't know. I can only assume the loom will be different so even if I did get hold of a standard valved back box set it wouldnt be able to plug and play.

Probably removed it and changed the exhaust in general to be quieter.

At the end of the date it’s still only a 4cyl, add more cylinders for better sound 😁

Or add silly artificial sounds and pump it through a speaker in the car.

46 minutes ago, numskull said:

Or add silly artificial sounds and pump it through a speaker in the car

Playing cards on the spokes of the wheels. Sounded great on my pushbike when I was 7.

3 hours ago, numskull said:

Or add silly artificial sounds and pump it through a speaker in the car.

Someone by me has an electric Fiat 500 (abarth version) and it’s got external speakers so it still sounds like a proper petrol version 😂

Apart from adding 10mph to the top speed and knocking 0.05 sec off the 0-60 time I've never noticed any real sound difference no matter what the flaps are up to.

They also removed the middle resonator from around 2019. I don’t know whether it was the facelift when moving to the gen4 DNFE engine or still on the late gen3 DNUA (which I think you have @SaabDude ). The GPF does all the work of reducing any meaningful sound. So if yours has it (which I think it does) then you can either pay for a compliant sports GPF (only one I have seen is a £2,800 HJS item) or delete the GPF which is illegal. You might pass emissions but it invalidates your insurance.