ECU resetting for performance

[Quinny34]

Some discussion on www.newtriton.net about this topic so I thought I'd throw it up for discussion here also. The benefits of resetting your ECU, When, Why and How.

[Hilux Max]

You seem to be spedning alot of time on the other side of the fence mate.....a you starting to turn?

[Quinny34]

What I've been told..

Get engine to normal op temp
Remove Battery for 10 mins...
Reconnect and start car
let it idle for 15 mins to relearn idle
Drive for 20 mins - It will use this driving style/load/pattern etc to set the mix/timing etc...

[Quinny34]

The view from the Honda club...

The ECU of your car is like its brain. For your car to deliver it’s best performance you have to keep it in a fit condition at all times. This is the only way to ensure that you get the best in both driving as well as handling. Modern day cars do not have manual controls. Nowadays sophisticated technology is being incorporated in the form of computerized controls that guide and ensure Engine performance. Whenever you make a physical intervention the data pertaining to such intervention gets recorded in the memory banks of your car’s computer. The computer uses the mapped data to work out the optimum control conditions in which the engine should function. The ECU shuffles through the tons of data that come to it in the form of readings to decide the course of action that should be taken by the engine to ensure an ideal drive. The ECU tells your engine not only what to do but also how to do it. Thus the ECU in order to make accurate diagnosis on engine control utilizes stored data.

Even though you have made modifications in your car, the ECU still continues to get an input of the old data which is stored in it’s memory. This old data no longer is credible as it pertains to conditions that existed before the modification. The input data to the ECU should pertain to the post modification situation of the components and parts introduced, while making the modification. This means that you have to erase the old data from memory and new data pertaining to post modification should be logged into the ECU memory by mapping in new readings. This is the reason why ECU resetting is essential for optimum performance after any modification has been carried out in your car. The moment you have carried out the modification you should purge out existing data in your ECU’s memory. You should then feed in fresh data pertaining to the conditions that have come into existence post modification. The ECU has to operate on the newly acquired data as this new data reflects the true conditions post modification.

You should be well versed with the vital art of resetting the ECU of your car. You have to let your ECU adapt itself to the new situation arising out of the modification. Allow your ECU to relearn and perform.

Now therefore the step to be performed is to purge the old data and reset your ECU. Doing this allows it to adapt itself to new parts and efficiently perform post modification also. To reset the ECU you simply have to unplug the negative battery cable connection. Theoretically it is best to leave it in this disconnected condition for as long as you can. Practically leaving it disconnected overnight is more than enough.

After having left the cable disconnected for sufficient time you have to connect back the cable. Start the car and keep it running so that it warms up. This would not take more than 10 minutes at the most in summers. Once you have done this you have accomplished the ECU resetting. Shut off the engine.

You can now use your car whenever you feel like. ECU resetting is over.

You should remember a few points when doing the ECU setting. One important point that you should remember is not to reset ECU when using fuel additives or different octane fuel than you normally use. The idea is not to reset the ECU when using anything in your car that you normally don’t use. You should prepare the ECU to get adapted only to the conditions that it would normally encounter. This would also reduce the number of resets you will have to do to the ECU.

However if you are going to change the operating conditions on medium or long-term basis then you should reset your ECU. One such instance could be when you think of boosting octane. Resetting the ECU when you choose to boost Octane becomes necessary because your ECU has a memory bank for octane. This means that if you've been using lower octane, the response of ECU will correspond to lower octane with the booster matching lower octane performance. The ECU response will continue to correspond to lower octane even though you have started using higher-octane fuel. This is because the ECU has not been reset for higher octane. Thus even though higher octane is in actual use, the data in ECU memory still corresponds to that of lower octane. This mismatch affects performance, as you are unable to derive the benefits of boosting the octane. Therefore you should reset your ECU periodically after filling up full tank in order to ensure that ECU adjustments for its octane memory are made afresh corresponding to the octane actually in use.

You can even customize resetting of your ECU so as to enable it to adapt itself to seasonal changes. Since humidity, air density, oxygen levels etc in air affect performance you could reset the ECU to adapt to these variables too. The advantage of such resetting made to your ECU is that your car performs the best in every climatic condition. This lends versatility to your car- and all this at no cost.

[Quinny34]

http://fantasymyth.blogspot.com/2008/08 ... ntrol.html

This method only applicable for EFI/Injector car only which most of the modern car are using.
I m sorry for Carburetors engine drivers.

Lets start with why most of the modern car is using it.

* The need for sophisticated engine controls to meet emissions and fuel-economy standards
* Advanced diagnostics
* Simplification of the manufacture and design of cars
* Reduction of the amount of wiring in cars
* New safety features
* New comfort and convenience features

So, in another word cars with ECU are more fuel-economy and easy to be tune and modify.

How To Reset your ECU?
Simple. Firstly, hoop up your bonnet/hood at your engine bay and look for a black box something like this...


Then look for a label shown " ECI " or "ECU" or "EFI" or anything related.
*The above label varies depend on model that car makers name it.

After you found the above box, removed out the casing and this is what you see inside.



Those small box were actually a fuse for your car.

Next, just removed out the fuse from there and you are actually disconnecting power supply from your car battery to your ECU.

This function serve the same as you removed out your car battery. But if you removed out your car battery you are actually resetting all your car electronic devices such as your audio system.

Ok now.

The question is how long are you going to disconnected your "ECU FUSE" and put it back in and drive as normal?

The answer is best 2 Days (48hours) or at least 1 Day (24hours) to let the ECU fully empty its memory.

IMPORTANT!!!
Before you start your engine, make sure you have to put the FUSE back in else you can't start your engine. It will be like a human without a brain.


When the day comes... after 24 or 48 hours later...

Put back the same FUSE at the SAME location where you had taken out from.
Then start your engine and let it idle for 5mins - 10mins.
This way will let your car ECU to read back all its sensors and update/input a new data to it's pre-program data.

Then... drive your car as usual for few days and your ECU will slowly update information (Air Fuel Mapping) required to an optimum setting based on your driving behavior.

Who should do this?
Which ever bolt on mod you had done is best to optimized it by doing so. Such as...
-Changed your Sport Rims
-Add a Ground Wire or/and Voltage Stabilizer
-Adjustable Cam Pulley
-Lighten Crank Pulley
-Adjustable Fuel Regulator
-Performance Spark Plug Cable
-Air Filter ("Open Pod" or "Drop In" type)
-Mufflers or Exhaust pipe (Straight or "S" Flow type)
-New Exhaust piping or routing
-Extractors (4-2-1 or 4-1 or 3-2-1 and etc.)
- and many more which is not from factory setting.

Benefit you will gain from doing so
-Your car getting lighter than before
-Faster Respond or quicker throttle respond
-Gain a little bit more of horse power or torque from the performance that you had just mod
-Better fuel economy at marginal gain*


*the fuel economy varies from cars

[Quinny34]

From the Skyline Ricers....

ECU Reset:
This is a very good procedure to follow, especially after making any changes to the car, for example after fitting a new exhaust, or air filter, or just every couple of months as part of a service routine.

To reset the ECU, disconnect your car's battery for 24 hours. This will reset the ECU to the factory defaults.

I have also heard that this can be done more quickly by disconnecting the battery and pressing the brake pedal (discharging any residual power in the car's electrical system), and then reconnecting the battery.
- It has been recently posted that this technique can help if done prior to a run down a drag strip, with a fuel tank of octane boosted petrol or #1 racing fuel.
- Apparently when the car is started for the very first time, the factory ECU advances the timing by about two degrees, and monitors the knock sensor. If any detonation is detected, the ECU will retard the timing by three degrees. It will continue advancing and retarding by progressively smaller increments. After a time, the ECU is doing the advance / retard by only tenths of a degree, and any power gains resulting from a tank of #1 racing fuel for example will take a long time to show, and not be noticeable. Resetting the ECU will cause the ECU to very quickly re-map the ignition curves when the car is restarted. The poster advises disconnecting the battery, pressing the brake pedal, and reconnecting the battery prior to staging.

A number of Skylines Downunder Club members have done this to their Skylines with good results. One friend reports a smoother drive, and more free revving. First impressions on it car is that it starts quicker (not that it ever cranked for more than a second or two), feels smoother in the low rev range, and seems to have a little more torque in low speed acceleration. Possibly better fuel economy also. It pays to reset after each modification to the vehicle, or soon after purchase to begin with...

[Quinny34]

You seem to be spedning alot of time on the other side of the fence mate.....a you starting to turn?

F'No.... I'd still pay 20K more for a lux than a Triton... I drive a few at work and believe I made the right choice... but I wont flame this thread... each to their own...

The otherside has just been more chatty of late...

[xklabr]

Ive tried the ecu reset on a number of cars after mods and basically it wont change anything. Your car will learn and adapt to any mods you have done to the car within its programming parameters meaning it will try to get the fuel ratio optium and avoid pinging.As Im a mechanic people have requested that we do this after there mods. Still no real change. At first maybe as the car runs rich or lean but it all evens out in the long run. An ECU will lose its memory within 1/2hr of loss of power. Most as soon as 5 mins.Well thats my experinces anyway. Others may have different results

[daryn]

The otherside has just been more chatty of late...

[Quinny34]

Most as soon as 5 mins.Well thats my experinces anyway. Others may have different results

Would agree..

I thought that they learnt within the first XX amount of time and then left it at that... they still do the tune etc whilst driving but the characteristics of the motor is created in that part of the ECU...

For example, our clubby was much more responsive once reset as it was drivn like an old lady before we got it.. Still is compared to day one.. It may have learnt this over time but the results where pretty instant... Mind you its a diferent motor, ecu and has a s'load more grunt so even a small change is more noticable..

[bansheebuzz]

the engine management system of the toyota hilux d4d will not self learn so reseting the ecu (disconnecting the battery) will not alter anything

it will have an effect on the v6 and 2.7, but it will still self learn over time anyway to how you drive.

[Quinny34]

Why not in the diesel Banshee?

[hodgo81]

interesting info, something I would like to know more about with the D4D.

Banshee can you elaborate?
My first tank of diesel when I bought the hilux and after its first service were incredibly thirsty. I assumed they had resett my ECU and the ECU was just running rich until it had re-learned.

When I say rich, I got about 100km less to the tank after those resets. Then it returned to the dissapointing 10.5l/100km I'm used to. ( I still hold a grudge that I dont get anywhere near the 8.3 they claim)

[bansheebuzz]

there is no sensor to monitor mixture ratios on the diesel, so therefore it cannot self learn, thats why the petrol has 02 sensors, it uses the info from these to correct fuel ratios and will remap to driving habits.

i have had my d4d battery disconnected plenty of times and i get same economy all the time

[Quinny34]

there is no sensor to monitor mixture ratios on the diesel, so therefore it cannot self learn, thats why the petrol has 02 sensors, it uses the info from these to correct fuel ratios and will remap to driving habits.

i have had my d4d battery disconnected plenty of times and i get same economy all the time

To be honest that does make sense... I'll check the EWD and see if I can find anything that may differ... but I must concied your point at this stage...

[bansheebuzz]

Quinney - EWD?

[Quinny34]

Electrical Wiring Diagram... EWD... if you want a copy... search torrents on this forum...

[bansheebuzz]

i have engine wiring diagram at work in my common rail diesel book for the 1kd

[Carlewy]

Guys,
I don't mean to sound like a prat but I was the component manager for ECU hardware and then team leader for electronics on the Ford Lion 2.7L and 3.0L V6 TD single and twin turbo variants and the Lion 3.6L and 4.4L V8 TD twin turbo engines which end up in a range of Jag's, LR's and Peugeot/Citroen variants.

We had adaptive software routines for all sorts of things to do with injector tuning. These routines run either periodically or when the car is in a certain operating condition (i.e. highway cruise, idle, overrun). There really isn't much need for ECU resets and to be honest you end up moving backwards half the time meaning your ECU needs to re-calibrate the injection timing to smooth out idle (i.e. small injection timing), etc.

Anyway, just my 2 cents, hope this helps! Just drive your car how you wish and the ECU and shift patterns will adapt accordingly. Not sure if the Hilux has shift pattern learning though, haven't noticed it so far but I haven't noticed a lot of the routines that we used to do at Ford with Bosch and Siemens. Having said that when Denso were pitching to us they had very similar routines to what we were developing with their competitors.

[hodgo81]

Interesting stuff carlewy. That sort of supports my point. That when I've had work done on my hilux and it seems they have disconnected the battery, my first tank of fuel goes very quickly.

But also I dont know how much Toyota has developed the ECU since its first release in 05... it might be using older technology.