Hi Guys,

I've had my TE manual V6 advance for 3 weeks now. It has 176,000kms.

When I first test drove it, I couldn't believe the price the owner wanted for it. It was used by a "soccer mum" for the last 100,000kms and pulled like a 14yr old school boy. I got it for such a good price that i'm a little embarrassed saying how much I paid for it.

Anyway, within the space of 5 days, I

1. Changed the oil/filter (pennzoil semi synth)
2. Air filter (factory)
3. Replaced the gearstick boot
4. Installed my pioneer DEH5250 headunit, 6 disk stacker, kicker splits, MTX 12" sub, JVC KS-AX6300 4 channel amp
5. Fitted a Lukey LR2779 muffler
6. Changed the coolant
7. Rotated the tyres and various odds and ends

Now, for some reason after doing all these things, the car ran like an absolute dog. The engine was now coarse, it lacked power, didn't idle very well. I honestly thought I'd done some damage somewhere. I've been thinking the oil might be too thin (15w/30), the new air filter might be blocked, etc, etc. I tried doing an ECU reset and the problems were still there.

To make matters worse, The pioneer headunit wouldn't pick up FM radio stations.

I've been looking through this forum to possible answers and I was just about to change the oil again, when I read about removing the negative terminal from the battery. When I installed the stereo, reset the ECU, etc, I always removed the positive terminal.

I removed the negative terminal today for 20mins, then kept the revs between 1500-2000 for 2 mins. Turned on the headunit, bingo the FM stations we're back and the best news is it's back to the smooth, quick car I first test drove.

So, to any new 3rd gen owners. When you want to do an ECU reset, change the headunit, etc, etc.

Always remove the negative terminal from the battery!!!!!!!.

So, thanks to prior posters for the info. This is an excellent forum you guys have here, without it, I'm dare not think how much time, effort and money it would have cost me before I found the solution! I'll be posting pics once i've had my 17" wheels and lowered suspension fitted.

welcome to the club....

didnt know that disconnecting the positive terminal did damage,...
i've always disconnected the negative anyways...

but thanks for the info....
good work..

so do you put the negterminal back on before you rev it for two minutes?

so do you put the negterminal back on before you rev it for two minutes?

Car wont start without it champ..... lol

ding lol

did you run the motor with battery terminal off?????
if you did this can do some serious dammage i dont recomend it. as it can spike the computer or burn out altinator regulators

did you run the motor with battery terminal off?????
if you did this can do some serious dammage i dont recomend it. as it can spike the computer or burn out altinator regulators

WTF?!?! :nuts: Yeah... run without the battery connected... You might get one turn ;)

i mean did he start the motor and then disconect it?

It shouldnt' matter wether + or - is disconnected. As long as either is off, the circuit is open, and no current/voltage is anywhere...

I always disconnected the + and never had problems.

Best to disconnect the negative. If you disconnect the positive and short the spanner against the chassis while you are doing it = Boom

inter: It is irrelevent which terminal you remove. If you remove either the ECU wont have any power and will reset itself once all the juice has emptied from the internal CPU capacitors. ~20 minutes

What would have happened is, when you installed the stereo and removed the positive terminal the ECU reset itself.

This causes the engine hassles. Once the engine learns what style of driver you are it will start behaving like you want it to. Eg go for a slow drive / or give it some stick.

Anyway good to see its all fixed up, welcome to the forums mate

Peace

Tim

Best to disconnect the negative. If you disconnect the positive and short the spanner against the chassis while you are doing it = Boom

inter: It is irrelevent which terminal you remove. If you remove either the ECU wont have any power and will reset itself once all the juice has emptied from the internal CPU capacitors. ~20 minutes

What would have happened is, when you installed the stereo and removed the positive terminal the ECU reset itself.

This causes the engine hassles. Once the engine learns what style of driver you are it will start behaving like you want it to. Eg go for a slow drive / or give it some stick.

Anyway good to see its all fixed up, welcome to the forums mate

Peace

Tim

My original take on disconnecting the battery was the same as many of you guys. I didn't bother reading the manual since the battery is simply disconnected when you remove a lead, regardless of which terminal.

I'd been driving around for 2 weeks after I did the stereo (pulled the positive lead for more than an hour), and the car was still running rough. I've reset the ecu on quite a few cars and 2 weeks should be more than enough to let the ecu work out the new parameters!

Now the fact that after I pulled the neg battery lead for the reset, my headunit's FM tuner could pick up stations again (the AM and cd worked always worked fine) and the car was smooth again is more than just a coincidence.

My experience might seem strange to some and admitedly, I would have made the same stock standard comment about the battery, but there are too many facts to back up my statement about the neg terminal.

Don't know if this helps, but I've always disconnected BOTH terminals before doing any sort of electrical work on the car. I'm no mechanic or auto electrician (I'm an electrician though, so it's what you HAVE to do before you start playing with power points & lights in a house) but I find this is the safest way. When I get a chance I'll have a chat to my mechanic & auto electrician mates & see what they say.

Don't know if this helps, but I've always disconnected BOTH terminals before doing any sort of electrical work on the car. I'm no mechanic or auto electrician (I'm an electrician though, so it's what you HAVE to do before you start playing with power points & lights in a house) but I find this is the safest way. When I get a chance I'll have a chat to my mechanic & auto electrician mates & see what they say.
LOL. That's coz you are playing with 240v here. But a car battery is only 12v. But i know where ya coming from.

you only need to take off the negitive to stop power ,,, if you try to undo the 10mm bolt on the positive clamp its possible to hit part of the body arking welding the spaner to the battery and body if this happens then you might have a fire or explosion..safest way is to un do the neg first then the pos...unless your working on a old pos earth system

LOL. That's coz you are playing with 240v here. But a car battery is only 12v. But i know where ya coming from.

I'm just an overly cautious person. Even though the DC from a battery won't kill you, the bite from the coil pack can be quite nasty.

you only need to take off the negitive to stop power ,,, if you try to undo the 10mm bolt on the positive clamp its possible to hit part of the body arking welding the spaner to the battery and body if this happens then you might have a fire or explosion..safest way is to un do the neg first then the pos...unless your working on a old pos earth system

Yep. That's certainly the way to do it.

This sounds like the possible problem that i have. I might give it a go and see wot happens......

Don't know if this helps, but I've always disconnected BOTH terminals before doing any sort of electrical work on the car. I'm no mechanic or auto electrician (I'm an electrician though, so it's what you HAVE to do before you start playing with power points & lights in a house) but I find this is the safest way. When I get a chance I'll have a chat to my mechanic & auto electrician mates & see what they say.
thats because from what i understand our voltage is 120+ and 120-, making the potential 240 yeah?

-120v is still going to give you a touch up if you just disconnect the positive.

negative

Hello inter,

I read your article including also installation of new Pioneer stereo.
How do you remove the old stereo?
I also have a new stereo (also Pioneer!) but don't seem to find out how do you get access to remove old unit!

In quick answer to turbo_charade. In Australia, the general domestic mains is 240VAC to neutral, neutral is also connected to earth at key locations in the system, typically at your switchboard. The supply is generated in 3 "phases" (commonly known as red, white and blue), the voltage between each phase is 240VAC to neutral. The voltage between each phase to another phase is 415VAC. You may have seen 3 phase machines in industrial workshops or factories.

Ken

What do you guys think of this for resetting your ECU?
Disconnect both battery leads leads and connect them together for 10 seconds.
It seems to reset the ECU quicker by draining capacitors.
Will find the link I got it from and post later