Car running beautifully! - The things i did.
Discussion
Hello all,
The car had just come out of a service, but after doing the following things she is now running better than ever. All were simple mods, and im grateful for everyones advice on the forums.
1. New HT leads and plug extenders. After 5 years it was expected that the origianl leads and extenders would of deteriated, but a new set made a noticable difference.
2. ACT induction kit. Better results thank i thought, a lot more responsive at low (1500-2000) revs. Car also now sounds better than ever.
3. Cleaned the stepper motor. My idle was always good, but after cleaning the stepper motor its now spot on, absolutely no hesitation on throtle response from idle now.
4. Reset the ecu. Noticable difference. Car runs so smoothly now. Full method: Disconnect the ecu for a few mins, start car with no throttle, allow to idle up to ~90'c (no throttle at all), after cooling fan has come on, give her a few throttle blasts, drive away and feel the difference.
5. A full tank of Tesco 99. Ok, our ECU's shouldnt make anything more of a higher octane fuel, but possibly due to the Methanol that Tesco have added to the fuel (5%) she now runs better than she did with either Optimax and Ultima, best of all its cheaper! The car also seems to run better with the tank been kept above 25% full. (Also stoped my fuel pump making that slight whining noise.)
6. A clean and a polish. We all know they are faster once theve been cleaned.
Give it a go, you might just see the difference yourselves!
James
The car had just come out of a service, but after doing the following things she is now running better than ever. All were simple mods, and im grateful for everyones advice on the forums.
1. New HT leads and plug extenders. After 5 years it was expected that the origianl leads and extenders would of deteriated, but a new set made a noticable difference.
2. ACT induction kit. Better results thank i thought, a lot more responsive at low (1500-2000) revs. Car also now sounds better than ever.
3. Cleaned the stepper motor. My idle was always good, but after cleaning the stepper motor its now spot on, absolutely no hesitation on throtle response from idle now.
4. Reset the ecu. Noticable difference. Car runs so smoothly now. Full method: Disconnect the ecu for a few mins, start car with no throttle, allow to idle up to ~90'c (no throttle at all), after cooling fan has come on, give her a few throttle blasts, drive away and feel the difference.
5. A full tank of Tesco 99. Ok, our ECU's shouldnt make anything more of a higher octane fuel, but possibly due to the Methanol that Tesco have added to the fuel (5%) she now runs better than she did with either Optimax and Ultima, best of all its cheaper! The car also seems to run better with the tank been kept above 25% full. (Also stoped my fuel pump making that slight whining noise.)
6. A clean and a polish. We all know they are faster once theve been cleaned.
Give it a go, you might just see the difference yourselves!
James
M@H said:
Is that "the" recognised technique for resetting the ecu..? I'm suprised it is that straightforwards, I must reset mine 3-4 times a year at least if that does it ! (combinations of winter flat battery syndrome, and then idling the car to temperature once in a while when re-charged)
It can be even simpler. Unplug, wait a few seconds and then reattach. The ECU will relearn by itself the next time it gets to operating temperature. It should run fine before then using default settings.
Personally, I don't like the idea of waiting for a car to warm up from cold to 90 degrees while stationary, especially in this weather. It's also unlikely to encourage the ECU to learn the correct tweaks for your normal driving habits IMO.
Ian A.
M@H said:
I'm clearly confused as I hadn't realised it was an adaptive ECU, I thought it had a standard Map in it.
I think "adaptive" is perhaps a rather strong term but the ECU does "adjust" some parameters based on how the engine is running at a certain rpm at a certain temperature range. Not sure exactly what it adjusts or whether this applies to non-cat cars.
See the bible (or posts by Mark Adams) for more details.
Ian A.
Gassing Station | Chimaera | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff