Ok, so I am at 1100 miles now. And those of you who said it will wake up at this point were right. No question, much stronger in 1st and 2nd gear.

Now, how do I reset the ECU again?

 

How does that work?
__________________
Best Car Insurance | Auto Protection Today | FREE Trade-In Quote

 

It doesn't. Years ago (decades?), when cars were built to much lower tolerances, this may have been true. However, most modern cars don't gain any noticeable increase in performance after being broken in.

Despite this, you will see this mythical boost in performance after break-in mentioned time and time again in car mags. In fact, C&D brought it up again in their 07 G35 test stating the performance of the car was extraordinary for having such low mileage.

But, the reality is, if you check out most C&D long term wrap up tests where they re-test the car at 40K miles, the performance is mixed. Sometimes, you'll see the car actually improved slightly in acceleration. Sometimes, the performance is worse, sometimes the performance is identical. Sometimes, the 1/4 mile acceleration times improve, but the trap speed is lower. Sometimes, the 1/4 mile times get slower, but the trap speeds are higher.

The point is, C&D's own long term test data seems to indicate there is no significant correlation between improved performance after the break-in period. In fact, in all my years of reading C&D, I have never seen a situation where the performance was dramatically improved after a vehicle was broken-in - you might see .1 or .2 sec improvements in 0-60 and 1/4 mile, but you're not going to see .5 sec improvements. In fact, you are just as likely to see .2 sec worse performance after break in.

Here's some examples:

http://www.caranddriver.com/longroad...e-s-page4.html

http://www.caranddriver.com/longroad...28i-page2.html

http://www.caranddriver.com/features...6-s-page3.html

http://www.caranddriver.com/longroad...iii-page3.html

http://www.caranddriver.com/longroad...x-8-page4.html
I stand corrected on this last example. The RX8 had signficantly quicker accleration times. But, we're taking about a rotary engine which has a totally different design than our regular piston engines. The other examples above seem to indicate peformance slightly degrades over time after break-in.

From my own experience w/ my 08 G35 sedan, it doesn't feel any quicker now at about 1700 miles than it did when I first romped on it at 8 miles during my test drive.

Also, the whole resetting the ECU thing is unnecessary. When you think about it, what's really the point? Let's say you pull the negative battery terminal and reset the ECU. Then you reconnect it and drive with your regular normal driving pattern and the ECU re-acclimates to your driving habits and you're back to square 1. Also, if the base program is supposedly the most efficient and powerful program, why wouldn't the car mfgs simply make the ECU reset itself every time the car is shut off?

 

If OP was following manufacturers' recommendation for break-in, resetting ECU makes sense, unless OP intends to drive that way from now on ?

 

Thanks for the explanation, alterZgo.
__________________
Best Car Insurance | Auto Protection Today | FREE Trade-In Quote

 

valuable info alterzgo thanks...but either way no harm in an ECU reset like the OP asked for. Im also at 1100 miles and maybe its psychological or maybe im just punching her more and babying her less but i feel some kinda gains...(again i admit its prob psychological) but either way im sure a few things settle in here and there like airflow maybe, fuel consumption/compression (my mpg avgs have went from 14.5 to 15.8.....etc etc...

any word on how to reset??? i might at like 1200--->1500

 

If you really want to reset the ECU, just disconnect the negative terminal from the battery for about a hour and reconnect it.

 

I agree, i feel like the car has opened up a tad more as well.

 

I also noticed that all the cars I have owned over the years always run better and faster just after I wash/wax. Isn't that interesting?

Doug