I recently put in a new battery and forgive me if I sound like an amateur, but should the new battery installation have reset the car computer? Would doing things like the PCM idle air and other re-learns be a good way to 'refresh' the system on an 11 yr-old car w/ 166k mile? I know these procedures should typically never be required but I am just curious about them.

 

i'll assume you have an 02' model? doesn't look like any relearn procedures exist for your vehicle. most of the time a nice drive will bring everything back into harmony with the PCM/ECM. the relearn stuff was mostly for the dealers so the customers wouldn't cry the blues about there car not "driving" the same when they picked it up after service.

 

Up to 2002, pulling the battery would reset the PCM. Re-learn the idle behavior like this:
- let it cool down completely
- start the engine without touching the gas pedal
- let it warm up completely without touching the gas pedal

Beginning in 2003 they used non-volatile memory so removing the battery does not reset it.