mattwear

Not sure whether my problem is related but I've been putting up with my 05 standard legacy stuttering and stammering at low revs now for around two years. I've had my local mechanic look for faults and we've never been able to locate the problem. This morning I pulled and checked a few fuses for a seemingly unrelated problem - the window washer was not working. The washer is now working again just from pulling and reseating fuses (???). I also pulled a couple of other random fuses under the bonnet without the ignition on. After all this the stammering problem had disappeared!! The engine also wouldn't idle correctly and would cut out. My thinking is that in pulling the fuses I inadvertently reset the onboard computer which may have over time learned some bad engine management behaviors causing the low rev stammering. And by resetting the computer it's cleared it. I have since left the car idling and it has "relearned" its idle revs, and the low rev stammering problem is still fixed. Eureka! I hope it lasts. Adding to what has been discussed above regarding the rear brake light replacement procedure, I wonder whether it's actually doing the same thing, i.e., resetting the onboard computer? And all that's required is for the computer to be reset? Just chatted to my mechanic and the "standard procedure" for resetting the onboard computer is to pull the battery terminals off and touch the cables together. I'm not a tech or mechanic so do not do this unless it can be verified. [edit: according to a reply to this post in another thread be aware touching the battery cables could fry your electronics. Again, needs verification.]