Reset? Huh?

Hello, I was in the Accord forum, and someone said something about re-setting something after I get any Mods in? Anyone know anything like that? If I dont reset whatever it was he was talking about, am I going to hurt something?

Also...

I was looking into an exhaust system (Cat Back) does anyone know of any good ones at a good price? I was looking at the Airmass Warlock. I also noticed that Pace Setter stuff is very cheap, is there a reason for this? Is their stuff crap?

Also...

I do not have to get a header when I get a new exhaust, right? If was was to get either a Cat-Back exhaust or a new header, what would you prefer? My existing muffler is kinda crappy.

Thanks for any info!

Originally posted by thewoahna
Hello, I was in the Accord forum, and someone said something about re-setting something after I get any Mods in? Anyone know anything like that? If I dont reset whatever it was he was talking about, am I going to hurt something?

Also...

I was looking into an exhaust system (Cat Back) does anyone know of any good ones at a good price? I was looking at the Airmass Warlock. I also noticed that Pace Setter stuff is very cheap, is there a reason for this? Is their stuff crap?

Also...

I do not have to get a header when I get a new exhaust, right? If was was to get either a Cat-Back exhaust or a new header, what would you prefer? My existing muffler is kinda crappy.

Thanks for any info!
You reset your ECU after you put in your mods so that your ECU knows how much fuel mixture etc to put into your car. If you put in an intake for example, you have more air coming in than before, and your ECU doesn't really know how to react to that, so it'll give more fuel therefore making your car run rich and hindering your performance. You won't hurt anything by resetting the ECU. The worst thing that will happen is that you will have to reset your clock.

If your looking for a catback exhaust, I would go with a good one. Since this is a big purchase, you don't want to make the mistake of getting a crappy one. Even though you might save $200 or whatever, you might not be satisfied by it, then you get a new one and waste the $200. I say when getting an exhaust, go with a reputable company such as Greddy, Apex'i, Tanabe or HKS.

You don't HAVE to get a new header when getting a new exhaust, but to get optimum performance, you would be better off with a header also. The first thing I would get for my car is probably an intake, followed by header then exhaust. But its really up to you. Hope that helped.

to reset your ECU follow these steps. i got this from the old PH.

after the installation of any bolt-on performance part, let the car warm up for 5-10 minutes, then turn off the car. Locate the Back Up fuse (7.5 amps) in the underhood fuse box and remove it for 5 minutes. Replace the fuse, and start the car and let it idle for a few minutes without touching the gas pedal. Turn off the car, restart it, and drive it hard! This tip, which only works on Honda and other cars with speed-density fuel injection, resets the computer and allows it to "re-learn" the engine with the new modification in place. Good for a few extra horsepower.

hope this helps.

Thanks for your help! One more question. I had an APC intake and filter that I just bought. I ended up replacing my APC filter with a K&N filter. Will this make any differance in HP or Gas Mileage? I still have the APC intake, just replaced the filter. Did I just waste my money?

Thanks!

the k&n filter is a good filter...won't affect it at all in a bad way!

actually all the hocus pocus about resetting ecu's is exactly that, hocus pocus. it really only benefits an obd1 car. and all you have to do is cut power to the ecu in some physical way, be it remove the fuse or pull the negative battery wire. theres no need to wait any period of time or let your car idle for any period of time. as soon as the constant power supply is cut from the ecu its a blank slate and is returned to its base maps it had before the car was ever started. from there as you drive, and only when driving it will relearn and modify its tables according to the multiple inputs it recieves from the many different driving scenerios it encounters day by day.

i also have some doubts as to the obd2 problem. if someone would like to school me on why clearing the maps wont work for long please do. because as i see it in closed loop mode it shouldnt matter whats been done because the ecu is basing fuel curves on the oxygen sensor anyway right? so in theory i would think if you had more flow it wouldnt stick with stock maps and adjustments because you would run lean, which in turn would trigger the ecu to dump more fuel to achieve the correct mixture? i mean the output of a combustion chamber is the output of a combustion chamber no matter what goes on right?

Actually you let it sit for a while after pulling the VCC because most modern ram is implimented using transistors as caps. Reads are destructive, but undisturbed values can be retained for some time.

As far as letting the car idle after resetting the computer. The computer also learns how to idle properly, which can actually be pretty ticky. That and the computer doesn't enter closed loop mode until the O2 sensor(s) reaches its operating tempature which is quite high. Until then it runs off of table look ups multiplied by a correction factor. The correction factor is adaptive.

Also some OBD-II computers will not operate far outside of their set of parameters. They are designed not to trust sensors but so far. They won't advance the timing but so far; they won't run but so lean (stock cars tend to run a little rich as safety factor). When faced with "trouble" they pull the timing and run rich. How sensative they are seems to vary widely. The F20C in the S2000 is apparently very sensitive in this way.

Originally posted by Someguy
Actually you let it sit for a while after pulling the VCC because most modern ram is implimented using transistors as caps. Reads are destructive, but undisturbed values can be retained for some time.

As far as letting the car idle after resetting the computer. The computer also learns how to idle properly, which can actually be pretty ticky. That and the computer doesn't enter closed loop mode until the O2 sensor(s) reaches its operating tempature which is quite high. Until then it runs off of table look ups multiplied by a correction factor. The correction factor is adaptive.

Also some OBD-II computers will not operate far outside of their set of parameters. They are designed not to trust sensors but so far. They won't advance the timing but so far; they won't run but so lean (stock cars tend to run a little rich as safety factor). When faced with "trouble" they pull the timing and run rich. How sensative they are seems to vary widely. The F20C in the S2000 is apparently very sensitive in this way.

and see thats what i was always led to believe but after reading the helms manual for my lude and the helms for my civic (starting to build a colection) under the ecu code clearing and mil retrieval section there is no reference to leaving the fuse out for any period of time or proper idling times after re-install. i totally understand what you mean about the oxygen sensor reaching functional heat range (i believe its 600 degree's) to run in closed loop, the natural rich condition cars run in for safety and all that but what i was refering to and should have spoken more clearly about is once closed loop mode is reached (depending on vehicle) would it even matter what mods you have and how they react as long as they dont push the values over the "safe limit" designated by the ecu? so basically the question would be.... when in closed loop mode as long as your in parameters would the ecu just see whats actually going on at that given time and correct as necessary? kinda like adjusted driving conditions like if you live in denver and drive to the coast it would compensate for the alteration in intake temp, pressure, bla bla bla.....

i think im gonna kidnap a group of honda ecu engineers and hold them ransom till i get the truth. welp its time to drug myself up with cold medicine again, sorry if im blabbing i have just always thought somethings shady with this topic.

Actually you let it sit for a while after pulling the VCC because most modern ram is implimented using transistors as caps. Reads are destructive, but undisturbed values can be retained for some time.

As far as letting the car idle after resetting the computer. The computer also learns how to idle properly, which can actually be pretty ticky. That and the computer doesn't enter closed loop mode until the O2 sensor(s) reaches its operating tempature which is quite high. Until then it runs off of table look ups multiplied by a correction factor. The correction factor is adaptive.

Also some OBD-II computers will not operate far outside of their set of parameters. They are designed not to trust sensors but so far. They won't advance the timing but so far; they won't run but so lean (stock cars tend to run a little rich as safety factor). When faced with "trouble" they pull the timing and run rich. How sensative they are seems to vary widely. The F20C in the S2000 is apparently very sensitive in this way.

What do you mean by "trouble", coz I had valve adjustment done on my 99 acc 4 cyl and now the car is running rich. Are they related?

and see thats what i was always led to believe but after reading the helms manual for my lude and the helms for my civic (starting to build a colection) under the ecu code clearing and mil retrieval section there is no reference to leaving the fuse out for any period of time or proper idling times after re-install.
You need to re read then, because it clearly states to remove the 7.5 A back up fuse for ten (10) seconds to reset the ECU.