Do's and Don'ts

[Ataher]

A helpful way of knowledge sharing used widely in my domain, which is a list of key Do's and Don'ts that are golden rules specially for new comers and fresh recruits, and handy reminders for the seniors, they are useful in avoiding problems (mostly catastrophic) by people obeying them even without knowing why still, which is a great learning method (stop and think), you could add why and why not. These are obviously lessons that were learnt mostly the hard way.

Typically recommendations and common sense items are excluded to avoid having long lists. The best way is to try not to make one up or think hard to get one, just share what you have done once and it was a bad call.

I thought if we establish something similar, it would be a great asset for this forum, here are some examples:

- Do disconnect the negative terminal of the battery before carrying out any maintenance on the car specially when you do not need power (such as changing brake pads .. Etc ), some warning lights might pop and stay on.

- Do not use impact wrench on DRM spacer lug nuts as stated by manufacturers themselves, studs might break lose jeopardizing the integrity of the structure.




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[2010fx35]

:0 we dissconect the battery to do the brakes??

 

[Ataher]

:0 we dissconect the battery to do the brakes??

Most certainly sir!, the VDC-OFF / SLIP / ABS might pop and stay on, and you will have to clear afterwards ... Etc. This is just an example. The FX is full of sensors, disconnecting the battery will make all systems go to sleep and not see any changes. There is a warning text in almost all maintenance sections to do so in the maintenance manual.


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[2010fx35]

ooh okay. Thanks for the heads up. How do you do the reset?

 

[Ataher]

ooh okay. Thanks for the heads up. How do you do the reset?

I got a scan tool.


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[shadow191]

I never have simply because I get annoyed with reprogramming radio, seats, etc. after disconnecting the battery. Never had an issue. My thought is, unless you turn the car on in the middle of working on it, most of the sensors aren't "live". For example, when working on the brakes, the slip/abs sensors aren't on unless you turn the ignition on. I've changed the plugs, brakes, coolant, and some other stuff without ever disconnecting the battery. Only time I do is if I'm working on electrical/stereo stuff.

I've only once ever had an issue with tripping a sensor. We pulled the interior and upon reinstallation, forgot to plug in one of the airbag harnesses. When we turned the car on, the light came on. Plugged the sensor back in, and reset the light. Problem solved.

:0 we dissconect the battery to do the brakes??

 

[pmanliu]

Do not crawl under a car unless it is held up by jackstands / quality ramps, etc. You can never be too safe

 

[Fire0nic3FX]

You do not need to disconnect the battery changing brake pads. Ive changed so many brake pads over the years and never made any lights come on. Even on my 2nd gen FX no lights ever came on and that has more complicated electricals than the 1st gen.

That would also mean I disconnect the battery to change air filters or the cabin filter which makes no sense.

On the 2nd gen if you disconnect the battery you lose transmission memory settings and then the car drives all wierd because it shifts differently than what it remembers. You also lose all your maintenance reminders on the speedometer not just radio presets and navigation settings. So I wouldnt recommend disconnecting if itd not necessary

---------- Post added at 01:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:04 PM ----------

When you change brake pads the only major thing your doing is pushing the piston back inside and forcing more fluid into the reservoir. It will not trigger any light because your adding fluid to the reservoir not lowering the level of fluid.

 

[TurTLeG]

Just wait til u guys run into cars with electronic rear parking brakes. Like 07 Passat. U need the key on, engine off and a scan tool to retract the piston.

Any other method and u blow those motors in the back. I don't know if others adopted that system. It has the anti-roll back feature on the hills.

 

[fxlr8]

Not sure what this is doing in the detailing section.

 

[jimmij]

Don't wash you fx with dish washing detergent unless you want to strip all the wax off.

 

[Ataher]

Dear all ... This is a precautionary measure, you won't have a warning light every time you do it, like wearing a hard hat at a construction site, things don't fall on people's heads every day.

It is a warning listed almost all over the service manual, I once rebuilt my calipers and the ABS went on and I did not know why exactly, the VDC-OFF and SLIP were on anyway due to another problem but I am sure they would have been triggered as well, i had a scan tool and took me 10 seconds to clear, the inconvenience was if I did not have a scan tool to reset with, or didn't know how to reset the ECU. ... etc

I can see that many members disagree and since DO's & DON'T's need validation, we can take it off the list.

One thing caught my attention though, for members who think sleeping sensors are sleeping, then be aware that short or open circuit on a sleeping sensor will cause MIL warning:




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---------- Post added at 09:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:05 PM ----------

Some DO's and DON'T's related to general oil change:

<> Do always measure what you drain before dumping - like you measure what you fill, you might need a reference badly in some situations, dump only when oil change is completed.
<> Do always use a funnel to fill any oil, oil spill over engine hot parts or belts can be catastrophic, and contamination while filling may occur.
<> Do verify oil level check requirements, FX transmission for example requires that car is leveled, engine is running, and the gauge is in reversed attachment position, otherwise transmission oil level reading can be misleading. The manual is detailing each case.

<> Do not overfill - some call it "top up" but not sure if that is targeting the max mark or the cap of the reservoir, some people use quantities in the manual which is "dry case" quantities, not knowing that they may not be able to drain all old oil out a the first place, so they go ahead saying "More can only be good", overfilling can cause oil flood (and then spill) due to temperature and circulation pressure, some car manufactures claim potential seal and other parts damage ...etc.



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