[Dave80GTSi]

Since my next window of opportunity to twiddle with this car will be next weekend, I now have plenty of time to take a step back and to think thru just what might be going on.

I am now of the belief that what I am seeing is not directly related to the ROW reflash, and that this work was done properly. Rather, my current hypothesis is that this is a consequence of the several months’ worth of time that the car spent with the battery disconnected, and the resulting need for the accelerator pedal to become properly reacquainted with the car’s electronics.

As a possible secondary clue, when I first hooked the battery up again this past Saturday, I surprisingly noted that none of my interior, nor my front / rear trunk lights, were illuminated.

The two (2) times that I have done the re-learning procedure this past weekend which I have posted above have both occurred with a cold engine and with the ambient (unheated) garage temperatures in the 30’s F. That is, below the noted 5 degree C temperature threshold as noted in the TSB above. For the second (latest) case, it now makes a little bit of sense to me that I calibrated the pedal to the car at too-cold temperatures. Then, as I started to drive around, the engine temperature slowly began to warm up, and after a mile or two the pedal developed confusion as to what it was supposed to properly do since it was now encountering some new “unfamiliar” warm temperatures.

If the above hypothesis seems correct (and I will be the very first one to admit here that it does seem completely unexpected), then the way to check this idea is to start the car next weekend and let it idle in the garage until a proper engine operating temperature has been reached. At that point, shut off the car and let the engine temperature warm up everything under the engine cover so to fall within the temperature guidelines noted above. At that point, re-do the learning operation for a third time, and see if that solves it. But if not, then the ROW work would become the next suspect to examine.

Based upon the above thought process, it now strikes me that anyone who lives in a cold climate, say, our Canadian prairie friends, who might disconnect their batteries for a several month long winter storage period must therefore have to go thru some sort of a secret ritual every spring so to get all of the electronics together and on the same page.

So, with this thinking out loud as the background, does any of the above ring true to anyone who disconnects their batteries for several months, and then tries to get their car rolling again once their seasonal temperatures are just above freezing?

Thanks - DM