Remove negative battery cable when replacing marker lamp???
 

Hi Guys

1987 300 TD

Haynes says to remove the negative in order to replace the front side marker light, I'm lazy and don't want to. Is there a good reason to do so. It is the drivers side light; it is right there for me to R&R, 2 minutes if I don't have to remove the negative.

What do you think.

Thanks

B

no such thing as a stupid question


doing so is a SOP(standard operating procedure) when working on a car

And 4 minutes if you have remove the negative. The time it took you to make this post you could have already been done.

You have already spent more time asking the question than it would have taken to disconnect the battery.

An often repeated myth!!!

The reason for things being SOP, such as disconnecting the battery negative before doing electrical work, is as much to get in the habit as anything else. If you start doing electrical work such as replacing a marker light (is this the light fixture or just the bulb?) without disconnecting negative, you may forget to disconnect it some time when it is important, such as working around the starter.

If you're simply replacing the bulb, no, I wouldn't advise disconnecting battery negative. Replacing the socket, yes, you should. Mercedes sometimes wires these vehicles "funny," meaning an accessory with a hot lead and a switched neutral. Other items such as the "light horn" (headlight flasher) are live at all times. Some vehicles have undocumented rewiring compliments of a PO. All that can lead to surprises if you think everything is dead just because the key is in your pocket. If you're lucky, it will result only in a blown fuse, but people have smoked their car in such cases.

Jeremy

Jeremy thanks for confirming my thoughts on replacing a bulb.

OlBrenner and Tango don't post if you do not have anything constructive to add. Clowns.

Me thinks you are the clown:rolleyes: It just takes seconds to remove the ground (13mm) from the body.

I agree with Steve.

Just so this thread doesn't get closed by BC, when I call someone a clown, I mean they make me laugh. It is not name calling, at least in my book.

Chris

I've skipped the SOP for removing the negative and my ring created a lil circuit with the alternator, now it's always the SOP

Yah, I shorted the hot wire to my clock once, what do they say ?" I don't need too pick up a hot horseshoe twice":D

I think we made a very good point without being disrespectful, you however didn't. Next you're going to ask for a DIY for refilling your windshield washer fluid... Have fun, good day.

And 15 minutes to reprogram your radio, set the clock etc...

I think that if everybody is being honest 99 percent of the people on here don't remove the battery cable when replacing a bulb.
Just my opinion.

I can honestly say I've not removed the Neg terminal connection when swapping out light bulbs. Just like I don't kill the circuit breaker to unplug an extension cord.

Ironically, we fried a CD/Radio in a Nissan Sentra just yesterday by not taking the time to either disconnect the battery or at least pull the fuse to the Audio power circuit. No big loss as I knew the radio was pretty much going to be hopeless but at least the radio part was working before we took the short cut. I think he accidentally touched two wires together while pushing the tab to release the Plugs on the back. But we SHOULD have disconnected and we didn't.

Just replace the bulb and don't worry about the battery. Haynes only says that to cover their butts.

I agree. I rarely disconnect the battery for electrical work. But, I'm quite careful with any exposed positive leads. I do realize the risk that I take...........and I trust that the circuit is properly fused to prevent any damage should I screw up.

I almost never disconnect the battery; the only time I can remember doing that was when I wired up the new radio and changing the alt.

Thats what fuses are for!:D;)

On a lot of new cars you cannot disconnect the batteries, if you do you have to reset everything.

When I was a teen I remember disconecting the positive first. The wrench contacted the alternator and caused me to change my pants.

Always remember to disconnect the negative terminal first and reconnect the negative last. Negative-positive, positive-negative.

As a young wrencher there were a few occasions where I removed the + terminal. I still have the wrenches with spot welds on them.:o

???? I always remove the + cable first when disconnecting the battery....and have never had a problem..... :confused:

The theory (which some of these spot welds proves) is that, if you go on disconnecting the positive side first while the battery is still solidly grounded, then eventually you'll mess up, your wrench will hit the car's body work or something else that's also grounded, and your wrench will therefore turn into a 12 volt arc welder dead shorted to itself.

Removing the ground first ensures that even if you touch the positive to something else, that something else can't be grounded to the battery so you won't form a circuit.

I always do it in this order when I'm actually working on the posts... but i will be the first to admit that I pay absolutely no attention whatsoever to which of the four jumper cables I hook up in which order while doing a jump-start. I ensure that they aren't going to short anything out, obviously, but other than that I don't try to do a certain order.

Nice to see some thoughtfulness in this thread !

I have cut some corners due to laziness and have often regretted it. I shorted stuff out a couple times, thankfully no big damage, but left thinking "why did i not disconnect the battery?"
It is a good habit to be in, for sure.

...just thinking out loud here...
Calling folks clowns when they respond to your thread is a great way to get yourself put on a good number of 'ignore' list real fast, though.
Especially when you are getting mildly 'checked' for asking advice on skipping something as simple as one nut !

Be nice, people here wanna help, but not get called names.

Ah yes I see....I guess I will be careful then! :D ;)