Disconnecting The Battery

paolo137 · March 13, 2008

On my 2001 mark 1 I've noticed some blisters on the lower part of the driver's seat, close to where you'll find the controls of the seat itself.

Turns out that that part of the seat is not covered with leather, but plastic fabric, and that explains the blisters in spite of careful and regular maintenance of the leather (quite disappointing on a car like Lexus).

Anyway, in order to replace the damaged section, the "seat guy" will have to remove the seat.

Since he's quite concerned with the side airbags setting off (he'd better be!), he was thinking of disconnecting the Battery altogether before starting the job.

The question is: is there any problem with disconnecting the Battery? The guy said that on other cars (brands) if you do that you'll have to enter a bunch of "secret" codes in order to restore the radio, alarm and all sort of electronic gear.

I've never heard of such a thing; besides, the owner's manual says nothing about any precaution needed before disconnecting/replacing the Battery.

Apart from that, do you think that removing the key from the dashboard is enough to prevent the explosion of the airbags?

I'll be very grateful for any info you might provide.

Mr Pants! · March 13, 2008

Call a dealer mate.... :)

Its one of those areas I would really not be sure about.

one thing I konw you will have to do is reset your windows and sunroof, there are posts to tell you how to do that.

paolo137 · March 13, 2008

Bad news!

paolo137 · March 14, 2008

Ok, I've talked to Lexus, and they were kind enough to provide some useful info: they said to disconnect the Battery, then WAIT 30 MINUTES. This way, all the eproms reset and the car won't think someone is trying to steal it. After that, you can disconnect the airbag plugs (or whatever).

On reconnecting the Battery, all I should have to do is set the radio stations and the auto windows (i.e.: lower them 10 cms, then close and keep the lever lifted for about 3 seconds).

Fingers crossed...