I used to release ARL to relive spring tension before opening gearbox. Once bump on sector gear smashed into the rear of tappet plate. Gearboxes aren`t meant to spin backwards. After that I always manually spin gears forward with screwdriver until piston is released.
Uncompressing springs is not needed IMO. Fire few in semi and forget about it. Without AB mosfet there is a big chance that piston is not fully released, but who cares
