Advantages/Disadvantages of Disconnecting the Battery 2003

[Blackbird2003]

Hello Forum, What are the advantages and disadvantages of disconnecting the battery, if any. I realize that radio presets and clock time may be lost. Does it do anything more then a scanner like BlueDriver can do when it comes to clearing the check engine light? Is there any disadvantage to removing the battery for winter storage? Thank you!

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[j&d]

There was a few years Diane and I were snowbird's and left the car for six months. I just put the car on jack-stands and the battery on a battery tender. It worked great. It was also in a garage that had mouse poison in strategic locations. Never any trouble or damage.

 

[Frankie the Fink]

My 2002 stays on a "smart" battery maintainer plugged into the cigarette lighter...

These cars seem finickly about low or dead batteries from what I've read - so why even risk it ?
Moreover, every time the battery is disconnected you either have to go through the reconnection start/idle procedures in the manual or else drive the car enough for the computers to "relearn" their settings.

Moreover it may require you to "recalibrate" the "short drop" window settings.

 

[Cmmclain]

Hello Forum, What are the advantages and disadvantages of disconnecting the battery, if any. I realize that radio presets and clock time may be lost. Does it do anything more then a scanner like BlueDriver can do when it comes to clearing the check engine light? Is there any disadvantage to removing the battery for winter storage? Thank you!

We are Snowbirds too. I leave the windows down 1/2 inch, remove any CDs, lock the doors with the KEY, not the Fob (which sets the alarm and wears down the battery), Open the trunk and disconnect the battery with a full charge. Close the trunk without any battery chargers. Cover the car. And we have had no problems. Use the manual key to lock/unlock when ready to uncover and start the Spring drive. To reset the windows, Just hold down the window switch for 10 seconds and they are reset. No problems so far in four years.

 

[Bob H]

Kind of a different topic but related to the battery disconnect. My stereo often goes whacko on the CD player part; error message shows and it doesn’t play, eject, etc. I have always been able to reboot by disconnecting the battery for awhile. Has always worked. Resetting the clock, etc., a small price to pay for getting the CD player back operational.
Also, I took someone’s advice from here to put a can of Seafoam in the gas tank when my check engine light comes on. Has worked 4 times now. Thanks for the tip!!

 

[Frankie the Fink]

Well. there is also the fact that Florida is hurricane prone and California has fires and floods. Oklahoma has tornadoes. Moving vehicles to safery might need to be done in a hurry so the less rigmarole the better. I can snatch my battery maintainer out of the cigarette lighter and be down the road in 15 seconds.