Since last couple of days my car was running sluggish, no warning lights, just hesitant, not very responsive. So this evening i reset the ECU, following directions from MINI2, and started driving like i stole it. On a private test track near my home , I drove the car 115-120 for over 10 min (no instructors, luckily ), and took it off the track and got on some twisties here, high rpms, put close to 120 miles on the clock. I know there is at least couple of more hundred miles, but the first impression, the car is more lively and enjoyable. I will let you know after 250 more miles.

 

how dd u 'reset' the ecu

 

Holy crap, that must be awesome to have a track right next to your house!

 

RESETTING OBC:

In order to reset the ecu follow the procedure below

1) With the key in the off position press and hold the speedo reset button, turn the key to position one and the screen will say test and a number.

2) Go through the list by pressing the reset button upto test 19 and then wait.

3) The display should then say"log i-off" then "log i-on" over and over again....when "log i- off" appears again press the reset button ....and now you are in the system software.

4) Scroll upto 21.0 Software reset. When reset appears press the button again and you will get a beep and you're speedo needle may vibrate a little (this is normal).

5) Turn ignition off then back on to position 2 for 10 secs then start your car and hey presto its done.

Edit: As the others said below, the whole adaptive ECU reset should be performed at the service.

 

interesting. how many miles did you have on it before you reset?

 

20029 to be exact.

 

So are you saying that generaly its ok to reset the ECU When you want more power?

 

no not at all, having an ECU reset should not give you more power at all. Adaptive ECU learns your mods and your driving habits

 

The procedure you described is to reset the software in the cluster. For example, if you replaced fuel tank senders you reset the software to get the correct readings.

 

"21" is the same as disconnecting the battery on 05+ cars, and i asked my SA on Friday, which he confirmed. On the other side I am not very knowledgable to discuss anyways. So far so good

 

Yay! One other person actually knows this. I hope the truth spreds as fast as the myth. No offense to anyone that picked that myth up online.

 

They do that to my car every time I have brought it in and the first tank of gas gets horrible mileage. It runs like a bat out of hell though until it adapts.

 

LOL well I do have the advantage of learning all of BMW's "insider" info hahaha Isn't this in the "Lets dispell the myths" thread?

 

Did you have 20,028 when it was done reseting?

 

Next to posting the page from the tech manual, I don't think anyone will believe us. I'm not going to do that though, I don't know how strict bmw is on sharing info and I would prefer to keep my inside info.

I can say that I have tried all the "tricks" cluster reset, battery reset, etc... and compared the gt1 adaptation values before and after. Nothing changed them other then doing a value reset through the gt1.

Live and let live I guess.

 

The only way to reset the ECU is with the GT1.
I had it done at the dealer after a SES with the VGS in my silver car. I removed the VGS and had my friend/MINI tech reset the ECU to "as installed", it re-learned itself with the mods and has been smooth as butter ever since.
What is being described in this thread is just a cluster reset.

 

Agreed. Ive said about this sooo many times. You cant reset the Engine Control Unit through the speedo.

 

Mine usually drops 2 miles after I reset

 

Seeing as you can't reset your ECU using the battery/speedo routine, but you can mess up lots of OBC readings (my average speed is now 1.1mph!) why do it? It seems to have little upside and a whole bunch of downside.

cheers,
phil

 

my OBC readings are perfectly fine, i actually visited the service and have them reset the whole ECU for me this morning. I will post the results when time comes.

 

Care to educate the clueless amongst us regarding this distinction?

I recently performed the reset procedure and it helped resolve a SES code problem that I had.

 

Honestly I'm still somewhat unsure of what does what. But let me try to explain myself a bit as to the workings of adaptation features.

Adaptation is nothing more than fuel trim. Gradually the DME learns how much fuel your car will want/need depending on your driving habits, and operating conditions. The adaptation cannot be reset through the cluster or disconnecting the battery. It is stored in DME's non-voliatle memory, and you have to connect the car to the BMW diagnostic machine to reset the adaptation values. DME flash will also reset your adaptation values.

As for your SES problem...I honestly don't know why it would erase it. What I can tell you is that for OBD II, if the car sees emission related faults (stuff that turns on SES) TWICE in a row for two drive cycles, it'll light. Then it must NOT see the fault for 3 consecutive drive cycles and then the light will disappear. The fault code remain in memory until 40 consecutive drive cycles w/o the fault. A fault that dmgs the cat(ie misfires) will remain in memory until 80 consecutive drive cycles are completed w/o the fault.

Drive cycles are these set of operating conditions the car must go through to complete a few tests. Drive cycle consists of idling for 3 minutes (cold start), driving from 20-30mph for 4mins, driving for 40-60mph for 15mins, and idling for 5 mins (not cold). Test is run for each of those sections to test certain emission related components.

Hope this clears up some misconceptions and confusions regarding SES/MIL and OBD II

EDIT: There's also more "adaptation" features but doesn't really have a direct impact on the driver. One example is the throttle plate position at idle. As the component wears, values change and the car learns the idle positions as it changes.

 

Sure, what ses problem did you have? Actaully what codes? Some of the ses faults will clear themselvse after x amount of drive cycles without a fault. Without the code it is hard to diagnose, but I can say this, reseting your cluster software didn't fix it.

Someone got a hold of the tech manual, saw the word reset and ran with it. Actually, based on the descriptions and how to's at mini2 I'd say they didn't personally see it. They leave out info they would have had they been properly informed. The one that really stands out is how to calibrate the obc gas mileage to your miles per tank average.

 

barnabas, jinx!