Hello all
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
Hello all
I'm new to the site; reg'd cuz I have Q's for which I need A's. I'll get to that.
I drive an '01 4x4 Supercrew, 6' bed (?), with the 5.4L, bone stock besides oversize tires. Got it used at ~80K miles, and I've made it to ~113K. I personally have had to replace 2 coils, at different times. I don't exactly take it submarining or even mudding, so how water continually gets atop the plug I'll never know. Whatever.
I've discovered that winter gas in Houston, TX (where I live...) tends to give me knock--we have mandatory 10% ethanol mix down here--during which I mix 50/50 93/87. (Why? Because with normal gas stations' equal increments from 87/89/93 that gives me 90 for the price of 89! Don't know if that extra 1 does jack for me, but I'm too busy to do a thorough test.) As a undergrad chemist, I do know that it's not that my truck's knocking on 87, but it's that the gas I'm getting is sub-87 sometimes, and that by mixing at least what should be 89-90, I solve this. I studied this in great detail, so if anyone's had similar issues, I'd be more than happy to give all the detail you need on the problem.
Another interesting thing is I bent my frame after putting too much dirt in my bed, evidenced by the cab/bed body panel separation on the top of each side farther (~2 fingers' worth) than it once was. Luckily I got rear-ended a few weeks ago (how often can you say that?) and blamed it on that, and got it fixed for free... along with my steering-wheel electronics which had spontaneously quit working (CC, horn, but curiously, not the button lights). This was also convenient, cuz I had my inspection in March and had to pay off the guy to not fail me for the horn not working. (The fix was the rotating contacts which had gone bad, and I was too wallet-conscious to pay for all that.)
That's pretty much my history with the truck. My actual problem is not so much a problem exactly, just a question. I want to reset my ECU. I am attempting to see if mixing 1:500 acetone\gas does anything for me. There's anecdotal evidence supporting an increase in mileage (which would be nice, as I get between 10-13 depending on how "nice" I drive or how much highway time I log in a tank... although there is also evidence that late-model Detroit cars have the ECU deliberately set so that any mileage above a certain point is out-of-range, and the fuel mix is richened... we shall see) in addition to a "smoother" feel aka less non-knock shake (not a misfire per se but more a "weak" fire) at idle and even slight increases in power, along with measured decreases in hydrocarbon emissions.
Anyway I've got it in my tank now, 6.25 oz. added to my 25-gal tank. Issue is, as I understand it, to take advantage of any supposed benefits but the correction of weak-fires and lessened HC emissions, which should happen simply by acetone's presence, I must reset my ECU. I've never done this, but I now see alot of support--at least for other makes--for the benefit of doing this regularly anyway... something about while it will learn to be less aggressive in the face of detonation, etc, it doesn't always attempt to regain that lost power when the conditions go back to "good."
Is it a simple battery disconnect? Is there an easier way? Is it more complicated? If it's just the batt, how long to leave off the cables? Thanks a bunch everyone. I've also put this in the correct forum for my model year, so if you could reply to that one we'll benefit future users' searches, plus the mods will probably hate me less: https://www.f150forum.com/f6/newbie-question-how-do-i-reset-ecu-1957/
I drive an '01 4x4 Supercrew, 6' bed (?), with the 5.4L, bone stock besides oversize tires. Got it used at ~80K miles, and I've made it to ~113K. I personally have had to replace 2 coils, at different times. I don't exactly take it submarining or even mudding, so how water continually gets atop the plug I'll never know. Whatever.
I've discovered that winter gas in Houston, TX (where I live...) tends to give me knock--we have mandatory 10% ethanol mix down here--during which I mix 50/50 93/87. (Why? Because with normal gas stations' equal increments from 87/89/93 that gives me 90 for the price of 89! Don't know if that extra 1 does jack for me, but I'm too busy to do a thorough test.) As a undergrad chemist, I do know that it's not that my truck's knocking on 87, but it's that the gas I'm getting is sub-87 sometimes, and that by mixing at least what should be 89-90, I solve this. I studied this in great detail, so if anyone's had similar issues, I'd be more than happy to give all the detail you need on the problem.
Another interesting thing is I bent my frame after putting too much dirt in my bed, evidenced by the cab/bed body panel separation on the top of each side farther (~2 fingers' worth) than it once was. Luckily I got rear-ended a few weeks ago (how often can you say that?) and blamed it on that, and got it fixed for free... along with my steering-wheel electronics which had spontaneously quit working (CC, horn, but curiously, not the button lights). This was also convenient, cuz I had my inspection in March and had to pay off the guy to not fail me for the horn not working. (The fix was the rotating contacts which had gone bad, and I was too wallet-conscious to pay for all that.)
That's pretty much my history with the truck. My actual problem is not so much a problem exactly, just a question. I want to reset my ECU. I am attempting to see if mixing 1:500 acetone\gas does anything for me. There's anecdotal evidence supporting an increase in mileage (which would be nice, as I get between 10-13 depending on how "nice" I drive or how much highway time I log in a tank... although there is also evidence that late-model Detroit cars have the ECU deliberately set so that any mileage above a certain point is out-of-range, and the fuel mix is richened... we shall see) in addition to a "smoother" feel aka less non-knock shake (not a misfire per se but more a "weak" fire) at idle and even slight increases in power, along with measured decreases in hydrocarbon emissions.
Anyway I've got it in my tank now, 6.25 oz. added to my 25-gal tank. Issue is, as I understand it, to take advantage of any supposed benefits but the correction of weak-fires and lessened HC emissions, which should happen simply by acetone's presence, I must reset my ECU. I've never done this, but I now see alot of support--at least for other makes--for the benefit of doing this regularly anyway... something about while it will learn to be less aggressive in the face of detonation, etc, it doesn't always attempt to regain that lost power when the conditions go back to "good."
Is it a simple battery disconnect? Is there an easier way? Is it more complicated? If it's just the batt, how long to leave off the cables? Thanks a bunch everyone. I've also put this in the correct forum for my model year, so if you could reply to that one we'll benefit future users' searches, plus the mods will probably hate me less: https://www.f150forum.com/f6/newbie-question-how-do-i-reset-ecu-1957/
Last edited by jwalker1196; Jul 19, 2007 at 04:17 PM. Reason: Put in link to correct forum
Trending Topics
Resident A-hole
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 4,098
Likes: 33
From: Tallahassee
Lost in Iowa....
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 81
Likes: 0
From: Williamsburg, Iowa