ECU Reseting Question

[brad`]

Hey All... just wonedring im going to put an exhaust and a Tickford XR6/T on and a few diffrent people have told me to reset the ECU afterwards to help inprove the output as well as running High Octane (98/V-Power). So basically is it worth reseting it or not? i have read a few threads on it but none of them really say weather its worth it or not. i know how to reset it thanks to a post by 'LG'. Looking fordward to hearing back from you all

brad`

[Dark Horse]

Should be done as part of good housekeeping etiquette.

Not a fan of V-Power.

[JC]

Dark Horse is on the money for the reset.

You won't get any benefit in power from using fuel with an octane rating above normal ULP in these cars - they are not tuned to run on 94 or 98, so the only benefit you may get by running those higher octane fuels is the cleaning they can provide to the fuel system (but only those fuels that have cleaning additives, obviously - like caltex Vortex).

It doesn't matter how many people "claim" they get extra power or extra km using the higher octane fuel, there is no scientific, controlled evidence that shows that this is true.

However, if you get a unichip, or flash tuner setup to run on PULP (either 94 or 98), then this obviously contributes to the higher outputs achieved by these devices. You don't hear of too many people getting a flash tuner tuned to only run on ULP do you? That's because there's not much gain to be had, and it's only by running the higher octane fuels with a retune that higher power outputs are achievable, but they are not achievable without the change in tune.

[BillC]

JC, so your saying that my XR8 220, that the hand book says I should run 94 octane, wont run any worse than if I put 91 octain ?

[james22]

No, Our 220's are tuned to run 94- 95 ron, if you put in 91 it'll ping its effin head off. DON'T Do it.

But a std Au XR6 or forte or whatever, are only tuned for 91 octane factory std, so there is no point running higher octane fuel. As the engine does not require it.

[brad`]

so its worth resetting ? ok done when my sub goes in ill do it then since i basically got disconectr the abttery any how

[JC]

Originally Posted by BillC

JC, so your saying that my XR8 220, that the hand book says I should run 94 octane, wont run any worse than if I put 91 octain ?

No, and I don't know how you even interpreted that. Your car is tuned to run on min 94. For the 6 cylinder models, there is no benefit in running anything other than 91.

[Stav]

Resetting the ecu is a hit and miss affair. My experience is that the car runs worse evey time. Every single time.Up on a dyno last year I dynoed my car and then did a battery reset. My car lost 15 rwkws from 70 to 140 kmph!! I was very surprised and dissapointed.It felt flat on the road and performance was down. But there you go!!

The reason I believe this happens is because the ecu learns its own tune via the ego and other sensors.When it does this it records and alters the cars tune.Resetting the tune discards all of this gradually accumulated info and the car goes on a new learning path which may never be as good as the first.
This also explains why my dev 4 cam and other people with the dev 4 cam had idle issues with stalling problems.The ecu had learnt to cope with wear,tear and a provision for the slightly bigger cam and worked with bigger cam when it went in. The cars went haywire when the battery was reset and would not idle properly.

[sly]

BTW when you reset the ECU do you do it with the engine hot or cold? Or doesn't it matter?