What needs doing to keep a car maintained whilst it is untaxed

wookie6

When disconnecting the battery, is it sufficient to just disconnect the connection to the negative terminal? Or should the connections to both battery terminals be removed?

chrisw

On all the cars I've had with electronic parking brakes, they can be released by pressing or pulling a switch with just the ignition turned on.

You only need to disconnect the negative earth lead. Make sure you have any radio/satnav codes if needed before you disconnect.

daveyjp

wookie6 said:

When disconnecting the battery, is it sufficient to just disconnect the connection to the negative terminal? Or should the connections to both battery terminals be removed?

Just negative will be fine. If you have never done it before be careful if you need to use steel spanners,  you need to ensure you don't short the terminals.  It is easily done on small batteries with nuts and bolts on the side of the terminals.

BTW I had to recharge a battery today in a car which had only been stood a couple of weeks.  It had been on a short trip to the shop and then stood in the driveway.  Battery had enough juice for all electrics to work, but no way it would turn over.

molerat

wookie6 said:

molerat said:

Why do you need to start the car to release the handbrake ?

The car has an automatic handbrake, so I assumed it could not be moved without starting the vehicle to remove the handbrake, perhaps this isn't the case, I'll need to take a look at the manual.

On my Ford it is ignition on, foot on footbrake and press the switch down.  The brake be applied without ignition on.