Here's hoping some of you guys can give me a step by step guide on the procedure for fitting a new battery.The old battery has been out of the car(bravo jtd 105) for a few days. On reading thro the forum I see that things need to be reset and somewhere that the car should be left to idle for about five min. I would be grateful if anyone could walk me thro the correct procedure. Cheers DEEZEL57

when you first start the car the ecu will be using the default parameters permanently stored in the ecu. it will then adjust these values to make the engine run more efficiently. this adjustment will happen continuously whenever the engine is running, so in the long run it does not matter what procedure you use. if you let the car idle for a few mins, and then take it on an 'average' short journey, you will ensure that the ecu quickly relearns, but this is not important. if you have a 1.2 model you may need to go to fiat and pay to have the TPS range done using the examiner machine (if your idle remains too high it means this is the problem). other models do not need any help, they relearn everything themselves.

Thanks for the reply JUG. I was worried about the key sequence etc.But need not have bothered. This morning put the battery in cleaned the posts and terminals. Used the blue key to see what would happen and she started up as normal.The original problem was a slow turning starter, I now suspect a bad earth as the battery was not really that much discharged according to the charger ammeter.The ecu has reset as the car is now much smoother and more responsive but boy is it ploughing thro' the diesel.Reckon at the moment about 24mpg. I assume it will return to normal as the ecu stabilises.

deezel57 said:

I assume it will return to normal as the ecu stabilises.

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yes, as it learns to adjust the ignitio and fueling the economy will improve and go back to normal.

a slow starter motor is often due to corrosion or damage on the main earth strap, corrosion on the connections at the starter motor, or a loss of cold cranking amps in the battery. the battery charger could show the battery's ampage is fine, but this does not test the battery in the same way it will be drained by the starter motor, so replacing the battery is still a good idea, or at least test it correctly.

jug said:

if you have a 1.2 model you may need to go to fiat and pay to have the TPS range done using the examiner machine (if your idle remains too high it means this is the problem). other models do not need any help, they relearn everything themselves.

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Yea was a little worried today when i connected up the battery in the 80sx for the first time in months. Sat at 3000 revs for a min or so then worked its way down to a steady idle. On restart just as normal!

I done that today on mines in an attempt to reset and clear the error(which it has thus far), when I reconnected the revs went to 1500 rpm and then jumped betwen that and 1200rpm for the 5 mins I left it.
Turned it off then restarted and it went to 1200rpm, then slowly went towards 850rpm and a smooth idle
Question ive got is, how long roughly until the car sorts out the fueling and ignition?
As I noticed it using the fuel which it didnt do when I had the work done (suspect they may not of reset the ecu properly as it was mentioned the engine light was still lit when they started the car)

fault codes dont have to be cleared from these ecu's. if the light stays on it means there is still a fault. after fixing the fault it may take a while for the light to go off, sometimes up to 10 journeys, but usually much sooner. but if it stays on there must still be a fault. you dont need to reset the ecu to switch the light off.

the length of time it takes the ecu to adapt after a reset is not very long. 5 mins should make a big difference, and after a 10 minute journey it should have fully adapted. if it still has the light on and seems to be using too much fuel then i would think there is still a problem.

The light isnt there atm, but im not assuming the fault has gone. Was really attempted to see if it could make a difference.
Had driven a 30 min trip last night with 25 or so miles covered with it.

sounds like the fault is fixed then