Do you disconnect battery before replacing distributor cap & rotor?

[paulri]

I will be changing the spark plugs on my Civic tomorrow, and a video on this that I saw, says when replacing the cap & rotor, to disconnect the battery. Another video made no mention of that.

What do you folks do/recommend?

 

[StevieC]

As long as the key is off the coil isn't energized. Not sure why the battery would need to be disconnected.
Maybe they say that for liability in-case someone forgot the key on?

I've done lots of tune-up's with cap/rotor/wires/plugs etc. and never disconnected the battery. No need.

 

[NGRhodes]

There is probably a slim chance of touching the wrong bit or dropping a tool that could lead to an electrifying event that a disconnected the lead would mitigate.

 

[Whipcitywrencher]

Originally Posted by StevieC
As long as the key is off the coil isn't energized. Not sure why the battery would need to be disconnected.
Maybe they say that for liability in-case someone forgot the key on?

I've done lots of tune-up's with cap/rotor/wires/plugs etc. and never disconnected the battery. No need.



+1

 

[paulri]

Thanks for the feedback. It was a youtube video, so perhaps they were just worried about liability or even someone bashing them, for something else going wrong?

Regardless, I won't worry about this one. Thanks again.

 

[supton]

Never hurts to ask. Certainly can "never" go wrong disconnecting the battery, but in this case, it should not be required.

 

[eljefino]

On the old points distributors you could discharge the coil by turning the key on and off. Better safe than sorry.

 

[Bud]

I have done it all including changing out points and condenser back in the day, without disconnecting the battery.

 

[BrianF]

I never have and still live to tell about it.

 

[bunnspecial]

The only vehicle I currently have with a distributor is the MG.

The last time I disconnected the battery was ~2 1/2 years ago when I took the engine out of it.

I couldn't begin to tell you how many times I've had the distributor cap off, or even taken the distributor out of the car completely in that time.

Heck, I've even adjusted the timing(which requires physically turning the distributor on non-computer cars) with the engine running. That's a good way to get "buzzed" if you're not super careful-I usually wear rubber gloves and also touch the vacuum can.