It had been a month or more since I last did the Sneaky ECU Reset (TM), so yesterday I decided to give it another shot. I was at a private office of mine in downtown San Diego and needed to drive north about 20 miles to Del Mar.

I printed out and followed the instructions from posters here. Two major findings to report:

1) Upon cranking over my car it started and immediatley died - twice. It has never done that before. I smelled gas and thought "Well, you flooded it, since you just held the gas pedal down for 10 seconds." On the third try it stayed started as I wiped the sweat from my brow.

2) I could tell a difference with how the car shifted, its speed, and its power. As I've reported here previously (I just picked up my 2001 E55 in March) my gas pedal / torque / quickness upon pressing the gas pedal seems to "go to sleep" after driving it normal for a few days. After my ECU reset the gas pedal (and torque from the engine) reacted more quickly.

So quickly in fact that I almost got into hot water. I was only a 1/2 mile into my drive and still downtown San Diego when I came to a red light at an intersection that required me to merge over (three lanes into two). I notice there was a small Lexus sports car on my left so when the light turned green I punched it hard - and roasted my tires like never before (no, really, I mean never, not in this car; I've never tried to do it). It startled me and I was mainly concerned that the Lexus was keeping pace from my tire slip. But then my tires caught and it was over quickly (he wasn't racing). As I merged left I noticed a police car in the far left lane; he had to have heard me roast my tires.

The 5 Freeway north was fun; I laid into the car a few times, and people regularly tail gate me and give me attitude when I'm driving the car anyway, so today I had fun with it. As T-Square has so accurately stated on this board, these cars drive "angry" when you push them. What a blast.

Speaking of T-Square, we met up a couple of months ago on a weekday morning to view each others' cars. His is one year newer, has one third the mileage mine has, and he paid twice as much. Both cars are really slick.

Btw, T-Square, if you read this, I saw you at P.F. Chiangs in Carlsbad about two weeks ago at lunch but didn't want to make a scene since I was with my goomah...lol.

T-Roll

 

An awesome place to drive. By "sneaky" reset, do you mean a soft ECU reset?

 

Schweinhund, I was following the directions below from Jakpro1's post of May 11, 2006:

Title of post: "Holy Crap you guys.....sneaky ECU reset WORKS!!!"

Figured what the hell, and gave it a shot per the instructions someone posted. I get her out and punch it from a start and it feels weird....a bit unstable. I am like great, I broke something, then I realize it is pulling like a friggin freight train and my a$$ is wiggling. I can't wait til the ECU sets me up this way....maybe better, that would smoke.

Anyway proceeded to do some launches and I can really tell a difference in shifts. Someone said it best....feels like the car had a tune up or something.

I COMMAND all of you to try this (well if you are not happy with your current setup). I just know now my car set me up wimpy due to long highway miles after driving back from Klee. Enjoy!!!

1. Turn the ignition key to the on (not start) position.

2. Press the gas pedal to the floor and hold for five seconds.

3. Turn the key to the "off" position (don't remove the key), then release the gas pedal.

4. Wait at least two minutes for ECU to reset.

 

Seems I always drive mine aggressively. That damn YELLOW triangle is constantly in my display!
I am so used to driving my older muscle cars with lots of power and lack of traction. Step on the pedal and tires spinning and accelerating. A controlled event.
The E55 takes a little getting used to. Flooring the accelerator pedal and the engine stifles itself until the computer and traction control catch up.
Try mashing the pedal from a rolling start. Say around 20-30 MPH. You’ll have better traction. Nice acceleration!

 

Sounds like you need to turn off the ESP completely and just the right foot rip.

 

I am glad the ECU reset worked for you. It is a weekly, if not 3-4 day necessity for these cars. But it's not so sneaky. I think most of us already know about it!

 

Schweinhund or anyone in the know:

Any ideas about my car not starting initially (twice) when doing the ECU reset the way I described above? Do we actually risk "flooding" our cars by implementing these steps?

 

I think its just an isolated incident. Try reseting the ECU in a few days and see. I had never had this problem. I usually do it once a week, usually Saturday and drive the hell out of it in the weekend. I hardly do that anymore as the price of premium gas is heading north of $4.25/gal. around here.

 

How would flooding even be possible with electronic fuel injection? Sure, I understand the system itself could fail whilst driving, and in that sense you could flood the engine; but when the engine isn't running? Our Benz' aren't running carburetors...... I mean, it only sounds logical to me, but I'm not an expert..

 

Will this work on my vehicle? 1999 clk 320

 

I don't think this work on a CLK320...I might be wrong. Why don't you give it a try and let us know as you have the car and some of us don't.

 

Supposedly this works on all Bosch systems from that time.

 

reading thru the post & wanted to know if you knew if this would work for 99 e320 4matic. this thing is like a 5klbs. mule.

 

it should if you do it right , but you prob wont notice much differnce because v6 wont have that kick like AMG motor .
Maybe ask in the W210 E class not AMG im sure though somone tried it there too

 

Im hanging-out in amg rooms because im searching for parts & etc.

oem lips - amg rims & whatever stuff that may work on my ride. I'm aware of the limitations I have w/ this car. but its mine. For now, I'll enjoy it to the fullest.

 

OT but
here a set will look great on ur ride
https://mbworld.org/forums/wheels-ti...s-w-tires.html

 

he has a 4 matic, its not recommended that he runs staggered.

 

I tried getting $600 for my monoblocks that were nicer than those and had no interest.

I've decided to just go ahead and keep them now. I like hanging onto stock parts and it never hurts to have a spare set of wheels/tires (especially since I'm running 19's now with our crappy roads).

 

Yep it works good :-)