re-setting the ecu

[nipper76]

hiya peeps,
is re-setting the ecu worth it?
and how should you go about doing it? as i dont want to damage it.
i see some people seem to think it improves different areas, depending on how you drive.
many thanks for any info

[wes1001]

Never tried it myself, but i think you take both leads off the battery and hold the ends together for 1-2 mins which basically discharges the whole system and resets everything back to factory settings as when it was new.

[mjb]

If you've got no reason to reset your ECU, don't do it.

The procedure is to simply remove the large connector from it for a few seconds

[nipper76]

the connecter that is attached to the ecu??

why do you say dont do it?

[mjb]

Basically it resets timing and fuelling stuff to a default value which will cause your car to run *terribly* for 20 miles or so. Dependant on how you drive those ~20 miles the car may spend the next few hundred or so miles acting differently but then it'll 'fine-tune' itself back to how it was originally.

Not a lot of gain unless you've just done something which has radically altered the characteristics or the car and the risk is there that you could blow it up.

[Black Pearl]

Not so long ago i reset my ECU, purley by a side effect of replacing my battery, as my car was standing and had to borrow me parents car to fetch me a new battery from halfrauds, with the battery being off the car for bout 15 mins it reset everything, including the ECU. I later read in a tech CD i have for a pug 406 ( sourced from a place i dare not mention on the net ;) ) that leaving the ECU without power for 15 mins resets it, its dangerous to touch both battery terminals together as it thumps the remains of current out of the circuitry through the capacitors that store the voltage for e.g courtesy lights dimming. Its best to let them naturally discharge over a time, be it bout quarter of an hour. The results, well for a start are very irratic idling and timing being out under high speed. Nothing dangerous mind, it just runs rough. The procedure to " bed in " the ECU again is to let the engine idle for 20 mins then 15-20 mins pootling around a village or town driving, then 15-20 mins giving it soom boot up the motorway, this sets in the main modes of driving and engine management, the last time i reset mine was when i put my induction filter in, as i knew full well it werent performing as well as i know it should as ive had a 1.8 D8 406 in the past with the same filter in, so i reset the ECU, bedded it in and now its got a far better acceleration, i wouldnt say it improves the top end any, maybe slightly but with resetting the ECU did definetley help. Hope this is of some information for ya, just to find some mad ass has done it before you and man and machine lives to tell the tale