Limp Mode and ECU Reset Myth (Long)
03-09-2002, 09:40 PM
#1
Limp Mode and ECU Reset Myth (Long)
Last night I went into limp mode for the first time. I did not freak out though as I read about it here. My car dies when it is in neutral and I have half the acceleration I had before. No dummy lights on as well...
I remember seeing people posting that to reset your ECU disconnect your negative terminal for a while. Well...I don’t think this true. After it happened (limp mode), I disconnected it for about 4 hours. Fired up the car again...and died after about a minute of idling. I then had to drive it home...kind of tricky, had to restart at every red light. Once I got home, I disconnected the negative terminal for the night. I reconnected it after about 12 hours hoping to see the problem gone. It was not. So I called the dealer and am taking my car in on Mon to get this fixed (possibly just an ECU reset) and for the 2k2 limp mode recall.
The service rep said that disconnecting the negative terminal would not reset the ECU. He also said that they do not recommend doing it at all. I will let everyone know what happens on Monday, as it seems pretty common that 2k2's are going into limp mode.
Brian
2k2 SE
I remember seeing people posting that to reset your ECU disconnect your negative terminal for a while. Well...I don’t think this true. After it happened (limp mode), I disconnected it for about 4 hours. Fired up the car again...and died after about a minute of idling. I then had to drive it home...kind of tricky, had to restart at every red light. Once I got home, I disconnected the negative terminal for the night. I reconnected it after about 12 hours hoping to see the problem gone. It was not. So I called the dealer and am taking my car in on Mon to get this fixed (possibly just an ECU reset) and for the 2k2 limp mode recall.
The service rep said that disconnecting the negative terminal would not reset the ECU. He also said that they do not recommend doing it at all. I will let everyone know what happens on Monday, as it seems pretty common that 2k2's are going into limp mode.
Brian
2k2 SE
03-10-2002, 08:36 AM
#3
Supporting Maxima.org Member
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 1,489
The ECU resets after about 50 restarts. I know because I had to drive around with my check engine light on until it reset. I drove almost 200 miles as well, but the Service Rep at the dealer told me that the ECu will reset after a certain number of restarts. He was right, it did.
03-10-2002, 08:49 AM
#4
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 956
Negative terminal not the best path
It would be better to disconnect the positive terminal if you wanted to remove any source of power to the ECU. I don't know if this resets/fixes things though.
The reason: when you disconnect the negative terminal the positive terminal can possibly still feed circuits if they complete a current flow path via the body of the car.
woosh
The reason: when you disconnect the negative terminal the positive terminal can possibly still feed circuits if they complete a current flow path via the body of the car.
woosh
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