ColonelPanic wrote: ↑Sat May 07, 2022 10:58 am
I usually managed to get by with the battery in place but it's so much easier when it is removed.
When disconnecting the battery on these dinosaurs, worst case is the engine will idle like crap for a while until the various parameters are relearned. And if you have an aftermarket stereo, your mileage may vary as to what needs to be reset.
It's nothing like modern cars where you have to drag out the owner's manual and sit through 20 minutes of relearn processes for power windows, sunroof, etc etc.
If you're reasonably electrically inclined, make a pair of fused jumper wires, and connect a small 12 volt battery to the leads. If you do it in parallel, you can remove the main battery without incident, and nothing has to be relearned. It only takes a tiny amount of power to keep the ECU (and radio) memory powered. Two 18 gauge wires with alligator leads will do it. You can use larger, and a battery float charger, if you wanted to.
I haven't bothered to _do_ it lately, but I've done the same technique in the past with various bits of equipment.