miked8887

Whats up,

I was looking for a thread on how to disconnect the battery but can't find one. I was going to mess with some wires and think it'd be safest to disconnect power first.

So, how do we disconnect the batt? I know it's likely simple but dangerous. Any advice or tips would be a great help. Also, cautions and warnings are good too. ANY detailed advice is always good.

My buddy who is a mechanic was going to help me with a few things, but he won't call me back or answer his phone for months.

Link me to the thread if there is one. I searched with Google and with the forum's searcher 10 times... can't seem to get anything.

Thanks...

curls

Find negative post on battery (there will only be one cable coming off, and no red cover on it!).

Remove negative cable from post.

Done! BTW: If you had to ask that, I am not so sure you should be touching the wiring of your vehicle. Seriously, I'm not trying to be condescending but wiring can get very messy, very expensive, and very frustrating... VERY fast, if you aren't 100% sure what you're doing.

miked8887

^^I'm not doing anything too complicated.... just a few simple red-to-red black-to-black wire taps with some 5mm LEDs to the cubby wires. The LEDs only draw 20mA. I asked a ton of questions on another thread and am 99.999% sure what I am doing is safe and that I'll get it done properly. Many others have done it with the same bulbs, same car, and same cubby wire. If you have anything else to add about this mod, please do.

And don't worry about sounding condescending... I appreciate your input.

Also, unscrewing the bolt (with a metal wrench) that holds that black wire on is safe as long as I don't touch the red connection point while touching black... right?

PACman

Right. But if you so happen to touch red and black, you'll get woken up!

npolite

Also don't forget to have the radio code on hand, you'll need to enter it once you put the battery terminal back on.

miked8887

Are you sure you don't have to remove the red terminal too?

curls

Positive (no pun intended). No circuit, no current.

miked8887

Alright I got it now. Thanks for the responses

You can technically disconnect either one, but doing the red alone or the red first is way more dangerous. Basically the black is connected to the car body right? Which would mean that touching the red terminal and the car body will shock. Good, I learned something about my car this week.

The black terminal can hang and touch the car, right? Or do I have to make sure it doesn't touch anything? I would guess that since its ground, that its fine, but I might as well make double sure.

Thanks.

curls

Correct on all points. Usually the black is removed instead of the positive, because removing the positive terminal has a tendency to spark a lot more than removing the negative.

demortis1968

Disconnect the neg (black) terminal. I doesn't matter if it touches the car body. Don't let it touch the postive terminal.

bukxanger

i dont have my code... how can i find this? i dont have my manuals or anything with me either

miked8887

^^that doesn't sound good. You'll need your code. Considering its a security code, I'd imagine theres no way around it unless you have the code.

curls

Usually the dealership will get it for you for a fee (sometimes) and proof of ownership of the vehicle. I've done it over the phone with my local dealership before.

nbtx

When changing the battery:
Disconnect the negative cable FIRST, then the positive.
Reconnect the positive FIRST, then the negative.

If you want to work on the electrical system without changing out the battery, just disconnect the negative.