acribb

It's been a while since I have disconnected my battery. Silly question, but do you remove the negative first?

Is the disconnect order remove negative first, then positive, and then the reconnect order is positive, then negative?

Can someone confirm?

545felix

correct. you'll need to reinitialize the active steering if you have it (turn car on, turn wheel all the way to left, then all the way to the right, then turn the car off. warning will be gone on restart.

acribb

Thanks for the response. Luckily, I don't need to disconnect now that the 'SOS Call Malfunction' error has seemed to have gone away after the car sat for a few hours. But great information for when I need to change the battery. Coming up on 100K now....(on its second battery)

Euronuts

When I disconnected my Battery I did it in the other order:

Disconnect the Positive first so as it will stay grounded.
then take off the negative.
Putting back on:
Negative First then positive.
Is this not right?

jm545i

Yes, this is not right.

Safety issue, nothing more. You don't want to risk completing the circuit with the wrench you have in your hand by touching it to a metal part of the car, which would then still be connected to the negative terminal, thereby completing the circuit.

If the negative terminal is disconnected that won't happen unless you actually touch the negative terminal with your wrench, which is in most cars impossible to do without really trying.

luigi524td

+1 Negative is the first to be disconnected and the last to be reconnected when removing and reinstalling a battery.

Same holds true when jump starting or connecting a battery tender / charger. And for this situation, locate a good ground connection that is distant from the battery - should sparks occur (and that is very common) it is less likely to cause a problem with any hydrogen gas that batteries produce. http://www.edmunds.com/how-to/jump-start.html

jay 535d

is there any other items that need to be reinitialised if the battery is disconnected for say 10 mins or so? My reason for asking is I plan to install ipod kit and have read in other posts that battery disconnect may be required.
Thanks.

jm545i

no, and I've had the battery disconnected for a long time without any need to initialize the AS either. You might lose certain settings, but don't worry about it.

vkhong

You may get some unusual service reminders after battery reconnection. Check / set accurate date and time.

545felix

that's weird. I get the active steering warning even if I disconnect the battery for 30 seconds. you have a 545 sport, so you do have active steering for sure. that's weird.