Pulling fuses under the hood

Tiny
REVA THOMAS
  • MEMBER
  • 1999 DODGE DAKOTA
  • V6
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 146,000 MILES
Retry simple question I thought, but can’t find an answer. Will pulling all the fuses under the hood do some kind of damage or cause problems?
Saturday, August 3rd, 2019 AT 6:50 PM

1 Reply

Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 33,739 POSTS
Removing fuses won't fix anything or reset anything. The simple way to de-energize the circuits is to disconnect the negative battery cable. That's faster than removing individual fuses.

Regardless how you do it, if you remove the 12-volt memory feed wire for the Engine Computer, that will erase all the learned fuel trim data, (not a big deal), and any diagnostic fault codes. The goal is always to read and record any fault codes first to prevent losing that valuable data, then disconnect the battery cable if necessary.

The problem you will cause is once the cable is reconnected, don't get excited if the engine won't start, or if it does, the idle speed will be too low. The more common complaint is you may need to hold the accelerator pedal down 1/4" to get the engine to start and stay running, or it may stall when shifted into gear, and / or when coming up to a stop sign. The Engine Computer relearns fuel trim data and sensor parameters as you drive, without you noticing, but it takes a set of very specific conditions to relearn "minimum throttle". Idle speed will be too low until that takes place.

The computer needs to relearn minimum throttle so it will know when it needs to be in control of idle speed. To meet the conditions for that relearn to take place, drive at highway speed with the engine warmed up, then coast for at least seven seconds without touching the pedals.
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Saturday, August 3rd, 2019 AT 8:49 PM

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