I Need A New Battery

Kelley

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Got to have a new battery in my '96 GTS. Are there any special steps involved or any precautions I need to take or do I just disconnect the old and swing in a new?

Do I need to hook up my battery tender before disconnecting the old battery to prevent loosing any settings or codes, or is that just plain dumb?
 

Steve-Indy

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I usually preserve the "settings" for my own convenience...either by using a battery tender (Deltran Battery Tender Plus) OR using a 9 volt battery connected to a plug that goes into the cigarette lighter in your model.

Which ever way you choose, be SURE to protect the positive cable from grounding after removing it from the battery. I accomplish this by securing 2-3 rubber gloves over the connector until I am ready to put it on the new battery.

With the Tender you can take your time but you have more amps. With the 9 volt battery, you need to move a little faster.

To be safe, lower the windows before you start !!
 

Steve-Indy

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By the way, if you choose no electrical backup on YOUR model, about all you will lose is radio and clock settings. Upon start up, it MAY run a little rough which will be easily cured by a spirited drive as the PCM relearns.

Fortunately, the alarm issues associated with total electrical loss/disconnect are centered around early Gen I Vipers. Gen IV and V Vipers can also throw some codes.
 
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Kelley

Kelley

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Thank you for the taking the time to provide advice. I elected not to hook up any temporary power source if the radio settings was all I would lose. My son did the work while I sat on a stool and supervised closely. When he got the plastic cover off the battery had a 4/17 date sticker (I just bought this car in September) so we figured we had something beside a bad battery on our hands. He noticed the negative cable was loose. The connection was tight but the cable was not tightened against the battery. He took it off and could see signs of arcing. He removed the positive cable and it only had a few threads holding it because it had two washers between the cable and the bolt. The obvious thing to do was put one washer on each cable and tighten both. Problem solved. Whoever installed the battery put two washers on one terminal and zero on the other. One on each terminal was perfect.
 

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