This is our experience also, from everything in my sig (well except for the Piper). Record your radio codes!
Consequences of Disconnecting Battery
- Thread starter SubLGT
- Start date
Yea technological advancements suck, like airbags, ABS, stability controls, and crash avoidance. Nevermind that cars today are faster, more efficent, more powerful, safer, and more reliable.
Put a jumper pack on the terminals while replacing the battery.
On my '06 Jetta you might end up with steering that doesn't work properly.
If the battery voltage goes too low or the battery is disconnected the steering needs to re-learn where center is.
You have to turn the wheel to full lock in either direction after disconnecting the battery so it knows where center is. If you don't do that and just drive off it will try to figure it out on its own based on your steering inputs which can lead to things like the car wanting to turn left hard and only one turn of steering lock to the right which is a bit scary (ask me how I know). Why they couldn't install some sort of sensor to tell when the wheels are centered with all their fancy "German engineering" I don't know.
If the battery voltage goes too low or the battery is disconnected the steering needs to re-learn where center is.
You have to turn the wheel to full lock in either direction after disconnecting the battery so it knows where center is. If you don't do that and just drive off it will try to figure it out on its own based on your steering inputs which can lead to things like the car wanting to turn left hard and only one turn of steering lock to the right which is a bit scary (ask me how I know). Why they couldn't install some sort of sensor to tell when the wheels are centered with all their fancy "German engineering" I don't know.
gathermewool
Site Donor 2023
You missed one for Subarus. Disconnecting the battery may result in permanent AWD! I've experienced this personally!
Not the experience with mine. The steering light goes off after a few feet of driving.
Huh, definitely my experience driving mine. '06 TDI. It did it a few times a couple of winters ago when my battery was going bad and it was cold enough to have difficulty starting.
If you're lucky enough that you have to use full steering lock in both directions shortly after leaving your parking spot (or possibly if you leave the vehicle idling with parking centered for long enough?) you wouldn't notice it.
VW forums let me know what the "problem" was when it happened and how to correct it (disconnect the battery, reconnect it, start the car, turn the wheel to full lock in both directions, drive off) so it's definitely a thing. It wouldn't be a big issue if it didn't cause a dangerous condition.
Never had an issue--until we got our CRV. Battery went flat on us. Now the radio is dead, it wants the code, and I can't find it (new to us). Not a huge loss, as the radio wasn't very good (no cassette tapes here, and the six CD changer was broken) but still annoying, as the FM receiver is now dead. Annoying "feature" that I wish didn't exist--thankfully none of my other vehicles had this.
Take out the radio and bring it to your dealer's parts department. They should be able to get the code off the serial number on it.
JHZR2
Staff member
Radio codes and PCM/ECU parameter re-learn is old news, as is the OBD “not ready” code, after having power loss or codes cleared. Nothing new there.
Some of these other things listed sound like faulty engineering, but also somewhat dubious that they universally happen. a bad diode or shorted cell in a battery can easily take the dc voltage lower than computers and other controls will allow. Then what?!? Same thing when swapping a battery. So now you can’t diy it in a parking lot in the rain, because you don’t have a 12v power supply? Not sure how realistic thst is. No doubt these bad consequences have happened, but the other circumstances need to be considered.
Some of these other things listed sound like faulty engineering, but also somewhat dubious that they universally happen. a bad diode or shorted cell in a battery can easily take the dc voltage lower than computers and other controls will allow. Then what?!? Same thing when swapping a battery. So now you can’t diy it in a parking lot in the rain, because you don’t have a 12v power supply? Not sure how realistic thst is. No doubt these bad consequences have happened, but the other circumstances need to be considered.
More work than it is worth. It has a cassette deck, which may or may not work, doesn't matter as I don't have any tapes. The 6 CD changer is kaput too. And no Bluetooth. If I yank it, it's not going back in. For now it can stay dead, it's going to a teen driver in the end, one less distraction.
Not sure what a dealership would charge to look it up anyhow. I mean, I didn't buy this car from them, so why would they give free support? Maybe it's trivial work them, dunno.
Not sure why Honda did this in 2003. But my '10 and '11 Toyota's don't have this problem. I realize it's discourage theft but it makes my life harder, so I don't like it. Puts me in the minority I know, luddite etc.
About the only time I turn on the radio is to hear the traffic report and weather. It would still be good for that. Dealership shouldn't charge anything. Go in to buy an oil filter or wiper blades, and ask, Could you check the code on this radio while I'm here?More work than it is worth. It has a cassette deck, which may or may not work, doesn't matter as I don't have any tapes. The 6 CD changer is kaput too. And no Bluetooth. If I yank it, it's not going back in. For now it can stay dead, it's going to a teen driver in the end, one less distraction.
Not sure what a dealership would charge to look it up anyhow.
Not a bad idea. I'll keep that in mind, next time I think of a trip to the city maybe it'll be something to do. I should look to see what wipers this has, probably could use some spares.
I was concerned about this when I needed to change out the battery in my 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee a couple of months back. I went on the Jeep forums, and they were all talking about using these plug in "memory savers", so the car wouldn't throw codes, and "forget" everything.
Along with how if you don't, the car will run like crap until the computer "remembers" everything all over again, which can take several hours of driving, etc. etc. I almost had the dealer replace the battery, because I was so worried about it.
Then I came across this article, and it made sense to me. So I pulled the battery out, drove to Autozone, got the best AGM they sold that matched it. Came home and installed it. The battery was out of the vehicle for a good 2 hours total. From the time I disconnected it, to when I came home and got around to installing the new one, and hooked up the terminals.
It was totally uneventful. As it turned out, I was worried about nothing. The car immediately started and ran beautifully. Smooth idle, perfectly smooth shifting, along with good throttle response. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.
Not only that, but all the radio stations, phone pairings for both my wife's phone and mine, along with power seat and rear view mirror settings were all there. In short the car "remembered" everything.
So while a few things might happen on some makes and models, in general, like so many things, this kind of stuff tends to get over blown. When My 2018 Toyota needs a new battery, I'm going to do the same as I've done on every car I ever owned. Replace it and not worry about it.
Along with how if you don't, the car will run like crap until the computer "remembers" everything all over again, which can take several hours of driving, etc. etc. I almost had the dealer replace the battery, because I was so worried about it.
Then I came across this article, and it made sense to me. So I pulled the battery out, drove to Autozone, got the best AGM they sold that matched it. Came home and installed it. The battery was out of the vehicle for a good 2 hours total. From the time I disconnected it, to when I came home and got around to installing the new one, and hooked up the terminals.
StackPath
www.vehicleservicepros.com
It was totally uneventful. As it turned out, I was worried about nothing. The car immediately started and ran beautifully. Smooth idle, perfectly smooth shifting, along with good throttle response. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.
Not only that, but all the radio stations, phone pairings for both my wife's phone and mine, along with power seat and rear view mirror settings were all there. In short the car "remembered" everything.
So while a few things might happen on some makes and models, in general, like so many things, this kind of stuff tends to get over blown. When My 2018 Toyota needs a new battery, I'm going to do the same as I've done on every car I ever owned. Replace it and not worry about it.
This may not work *immediately* because if the electrical system is in a woke state, can easily pull more than 200mA which causes a voltage droop from a little PP3 form factor 9V.
Portable jump starter power pack with cable clamps is the most universal solution, or if you have another vehicle available (or electric start riding mower, etc) just use jumper cables between the two, OR hook the jumper cables up to the new battery and the battery clamps before pulling them off the old one, but that's a bit more fiddly to get it installed without disturbing the clamps.
Imagine how bad this will get as time goes on? Another situation "forcing" you into dealer service.
Nick1994
$100 site donor 2023
Same with my 14' Grand Cherokee last winter. It was like nothing ever happened.
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