2001 VW Golf 1.4 - Resetting ECU?

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
View Threaded
Thu 11 Jun 2015 10:44
2001 VW Golf 1.4 - Resetting ECU? - veedoubleu

Over the years I've seen a few discussions on various forums about resetting ECU's, but they all seem to be guesswork.

Does anyone here know for DEFINITE how to reset the ECU on my 2001 VW Golf 1.4?

Different posts seem to say to disconnect the battery from anywhere from 30 minutes to 24 hours??

Is this total rubbish and can actually only be done with diagnostics equipment plugged in?

Cheers.

Edited by veedoubleu on 11/06/2015 at 10:44

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 11 Jun 2015 14:25
2001 VW Golf 1.4 - Resetting ECU? - Railroad.
What exactly do you mean by resetting the ECU? Do you mean removing fault codes, or do you mean erasing all the previous ECU learned values, and if so why would you want to do that?
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 11 Jun 2015 14:54
2001 VW Golf 1.4 - Resetting ECU? - veedoubleu

I mean to erase learned values.

I've got a USB cable that I use to reset fault codes.

I just want to see if it makes a difference to the performance of my car.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 11 Jun 2015 17:28
2001 VW Golf 1.4 - Resetting ECU? - Railroad.
That can certainly be done with VCDS. On some other cars it can also be done by interrupting the supply to the ECM for a period of time. As to whether it would improve your car's performance I would think not. The ECM learns how to run the engine over time as you drive it. If you reset to all the default values the whole process will have to start again. You may find that the effect will be the opposite of what you're hoping to achieve.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 12 Jun 2015 14:33
2001 VW Golf 1.4 - Resetting ECU? - Railroad.
Just to add to that, and in case you're not aware, clearing fault codes will also reset the fuel trim values, even if there are no stored fault codes to erase.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 12 Jun 2015 17:50
2001 VW Golf 1.4 - Resetting ECU? - jc2

Most of the "adaption" will be in the idle area-it will have no effect on WOT performance.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link