Steve, and Listers,
Removing the battery cable from the starter solenoid, while it's live (i.e.
connected to the battery, with the ground strap also connected to the
battery), is highly dangerous, and shouldn't be attempted unless not doing
so is somehow life threatening. Even removing the other connections from the
starter solenoid is dangerous because of the risk of accidentally shorting
from the live battery side to the starter side, or from the live side to the
chassis. There is enough electrical energy in the battery connection to weld
the tool you're using to the chassis and the solenoid nuts, and if you do
that, everything will get VERY hot, very quickly, leading to hand burns, a
fire, or a battery explosion.
The proper procedure for disconnecting any car battery is to remove the
chassis cable (negative post) connection first. In this way, if you swing
the tool against a chassis part, you're connecting ground to ground, and
there is no problem. If you work on the positive side while the ground side
of the battery is connected to the chassis, then any contact between the
tool and the chassis will cause the aforementioned spark/welding/heating
situation. Another thing: If you're like me, and work on the car without
removing wedding bands, etc., then you additionally run the risk of shorting
the wrench to the chassis through your ring(s), which causes the ring to
produce a burn around your finger, and that's very uncomfortable.
Best regards,
Theo
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-tigers@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-tigers@autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of Steve Laifman
Sent: September 5, 2005 10:16 AM
To: Jeffrey Holt
Cc: Tiger List
Subject: Re: Trunk
Jeff,
<snip>
If this is not secure enough, and you want total battery disconnect, it was
only necessary to remove the battery cable from the starter solenoid (the
other end of the battery cable).
<snip>
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