Full title: Does your car lose some important memory settings when you replace the battery?
According to this: http://www.aa1car.com/library/battery_disconnect_problems.htm
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So what happens when the battery is disconnected? It depends on the year, make and model of the vehicle, but any of the following may happen:
It erases all the learned values in the PCM's Keep Alive adaptive memory. This may cause the engine to run poorly because the air/fuel mixture is too rich or too lean for a period of time until the PCM can relearn the fuel trim adjustments. This may take up to several days and 50 to 100 miles of driving until engine operation returns to "normal."
Erasing the PCM's adaptive memory may also affect the way the transmission shifts and feels. The transmission may not feel the same until the PCM or transmission control module relearns the shift adjustments. This may take 50 to 75 miles of driving.
It resets the FMEM (Failure Mode Effects Management) module on certain late model Ford vehicles. This module provides an adaptive fail-safe strategy that substitutes estimated or fixed data for missing sensor data. Normally, this should not cause a problem UNLESS the vehicle has a bad sensor and has been substituting data from the FMEM module for a missing input.
It resets the ABS (Antilock Brake System) and SIR (Supplemental Inflation Restraint) or airbag modules. This should not be a problem UNLESS one of these modules requires a special relearn or reprogramming procedure after power has been lost. In that case, the affected module may prevent the ABS or airbag systems from working.
It resets the Climate Control module. On some vehicles, the module will not start working again until a special relearn procedure or reprogram procedure is performed with a factory scan tool. That means no A/C until the module is programmed with the correct instructions.
It resets the Body Control Module (BCM). Like the Climate Control module, the BCM may not resume normal operation until it has undergone a special relearn procedure or is reprogrammed with a factory scan tool. This can mess up the operation of power accessories such as power windows, memory seats, power sunroof, or electronic suspension settings. Worse yet, the BCM is the "gate keeper" module on many 2003 and newer vehicles that have a CAN (Controller Area Network) system. If the BCM cannot communicate properly with all of the other modules, or it does not recognize the addresses of other modules, it can cause all kinds of problems.
It may reset or disable the anti-theft system. The engine may crank but not start because the anti-theft system thinks somebody is trying to steal the vehicle. Again, it may require a special relearn procedure or reprogramming the anti-theft system with a factory scan tool to resolve the problem.
It causes a loss of channel settings on an electronic radio and clock. This is more of an annoyance than a problem, and can be fixed by resetting the radio channels and the time.
it would seem worthwhile to find a way to preserve the ECM settings.
In my case, after replacing the battery, the car began to idle rough (around 400rpm) but the problem went away after some driving, but the fuel economy is still worse. I guess the computer has to re-learn a few things. I am hardly the only person to have had this problem after replacing the battery.
So, question: Does your car have to re-learn a few things when swapping out batteries? If so, what DID you do to mitigate this problem?
According to this: http://www.aa1car.com/library/battery_disconnect_problems.htm
Quote:
So what happens when the battery is disconnected? It depends on the year, make and model of the vehicle, but any of the following may happen:
It erases all the learned values in the PCM's Keep Alive adaptive memory. This may cause the engine to run poorly because the air/fuel mixture is too rich or too lean for a period of time until the PCM can relearn the fuel trim adjustments. This may take up to several days and 50 to 100 miles of driving until engine operation returns to "normal."
Erasing the PCM's adaptive memory may also affect the way the transmission shifts and feels. The transmission may not feel the same until the PCM or transmission control module relearns the shift adjustments. This may take 50 to 75 miles of driving.
It resets the FMEM (Failure Mode Effects Management) module on certain late model Ford vehicles. This module provides an adaptive fail-safe strategy that substitutes estimated or fixed data for missing sensor data. Normally, this should not cause a problem UNLESS the vehicle has a bad sensor and has been substituting data from the FMEM module for a missing input.
It resets the ABS (Antilock Brake System) and SIR (Supplemental Inflation Restraint) or airbag modules. This should not be a problem UNLESS one of these modules requires a special relearn or reprogramming procedure after power has been lost. In that case, the affected module may prevent the ABS or airbag systems from working.
It resets the Climate Control module. On some vehicles, the module will not start working again until a special relearn procedure or reprogram procedure is performed with a factory scan tool. That means no A/C until the module is programmed with the correct instructions.
It resets the Body Control Module (BCM). Like the Climate Control module, the BCM may not resume normal operation until it has undergone a special relearn procedure or is reprogrammed with a factory scan tool. This can mess up the operation of power accessories such as power windows, memory seats, power sunroof, or electronic suspension settings. Worse yet, the BCM is the "gate keeper" module on many 2003 and newer vehicles that have a CAN (Controller Area Network) system. If the BCM cannot communicate properly with all of the other modules, or it does not recognize the addresses of other modules, it can cause all kinds of problems.
It may reset or disable the anti-theft system. The engine may crank but not start because the anti-theft system thinks somebody is trying to steal the vehicle. Again, it may require a special relearn procedure or reprogramming the anti-theft system with a factory scan tool to resolve the problem.
It causes a loss of channel settings on an electronic radio and clock. This is more of an annoyance than a problem, and can be fixed by resetting the radio channels and the time.
it would seem worthwhile to find a way to preserve the ECM settings.
In my case, after replacing the battery, the car began to idle rough (around 400rpm) but the problem went away after some driving, but the fuel economy is still worse. I guess the computer has to re-learn a few things. I am hardly the only person to have had this problem after replacing the battery.
So, question: Does your car have to re-learn a few things when swapping out batteries? If so, what DID you do to mitigate this problem?
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