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Jim
Grant has been working in the automotive industry for over twenty
years. In addition, Jim is an ASE Master Technician with advanced
L/1 certification. He works as manager and technician in his
family's automotive business in New Hampshire. He writes weekly
automotive consumer columns and is editor of an automotive newsletter
that is circulated throughout North America. |
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Jim Grant's Tech Tips
92
Chevy Lumina Z-34, Learning to Idle
Q:
I recently had to have my '92 Chevy Lumina towed into the dealer because
of a dead battery. The work order stated "Removed & Replaced
Battery" and "Re-Learn Computer Idle" what does "Re-Learn
Computer Idle" mean? I'm not able to read about this in my service
manual..... Herbert
A: When
a battery goes dead in a vehicle it will also erase any adaptive strategies
that the vehicle's on-board computer had stored in memory. Adaptive strategies
are merely the computer's ability to correct for vehicle age and driving
habits. When the computer loses its electrical power (dead battery) the
adaptive strategies are lost and the computer has to start re-learning
all over again. On 90's vehicles, the re-learned process is fairly quick.
In most cases the vehicle's engine has to be brought up to operating temperature
and/or driven. This allows the computer to get its thoughts back together
and properly control things such as idle speed, allowing the vehicle to
become its old self. Not taking the appropriate re-learn steps could cause
temporary driveability problems that would needlessly upset the vehicle
owner.
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