tspevacek

On newer vehicles you want to ALWAYS disconnect the NEGATIVE BATTERY terminal first. and the NEGATIVE terminal is the last one you should reconnect to complete the electrical circuit.

bbrown626

I had a similar experience recently, but I was on the trail when it died. The battery had a bad cell.

karls

Why is this? I don't recall seeing this warning in the manual yet they feel obligated to tell us to go two clicks past "on" for the gas cap. Did I miss it in the manual or what's the reasoning behind it??

Kendog

More of a safety thing than anything else... If you remove the negative clamp and inadvertently complete a circuit to ground, there will be no current flow because the ground clamp is already grounded. Shorting of the positive terminal to ground will then produce no current flow because the current has no return path to the negative post.

karls

So then that would be all vehicles, not just newer ones. I was waiting for "the computer will fry instantaneously". I'm smarter than the average bear so it didn't occur to me to accidentally short circuit the system when removing cables.

Mark Doiron

If someone isn't paying attention, say, and drops the ratchet while loosening the positive cable terminal, it could accidentally short out to adjacent metal.