-
-
If you drive a car, the odds are that sooner or later you'll run into a dead battery. After the initial period of panic subsides, you may be surprised to find out that jumping a car battery is actually quite simple. This page provides the basic rundown of how to safely and effectively How to Jump Start a Car.
-
Jump Starting Tips
- Keep jumper cables in your vehicle at all times
- Don't touch the two cars together when jumping
- Connect the red clamp to positive terminal of dead car first
- Connect red clamp to red terminal of charged car
- Connect black clamp to negative terminal of charged car
- Connect black clamp to metal surface of dead car's frame
- Don't try starting the dead car multiple times if it doesn't start
- Disconnect cables in opposite order
- BE CAREFUL: carelessness could lead to electrocution
-
-
Introduction
- Discovering your battery is dead is never a pleasant realization, and it never happens at a good time. Luckily, it isn't hard to jump start a car. Just remember that it is extremely important though that you follow the steps correctly or you risk electrocution or battery explosion. Some signals that your battery is dead include:
- Your headlights and internal car light are dim or won't turn on.
- When you turn the key in the ignition you get a slow growl, and the radio won't turn on.
- When you turn the key in the ignition nothing happens.
- If your engine will not start but you get a clicking sound or an endless turning over, you may have a problem with your starter.
- It's always a good idea to have a membership with AAA and to have a friend or neighbor's phone number handy for these situations. However, remembering the steps on this page could save you a lot of time and hassle.
Step 1: Things You Will Need
- You should always have the following things in your car in case you have a dead battery:
- The owner's manual for your car. It will have diagrams and instructions on how to jump start it.
- Jumper cables, preferably long ones. You can get these in any automotive store or department.
- Flashlight (in case it's dark).
- Wire brush.
- Gloves for protecting your hands.
- Another vehicle, one with a fully charged battery.
- It should have the same or larger sized battery as the dead battery. Don't try to boost a SuperDuty V12 Truck from a 3 Cylinder Put Put. It can damage the smaller car.
Step 2: Getting Started
- Have the driver of the other car pull up close to yours, preferably with the engines facing one another.
- Place both cars in park (or neutral if you have a manual transmission) and turn off the engine. Make sure the parking brake is on if you have a manual transmission.
- To mimimize the risk of battery explosion, make sure the cars DO NOT TOUCH.
- Turn off all accessories, including lights and the radio, and unplug any devices in power ports.
- Open the hoods of both cars. Locate the batteries. They are big and rectangular with two terminals on the top: one red, one black.
- Get your cables out of their storage location and examine them so you are familiar with them.
- The cables have two ends, each with a red clamp and a black clamp.
- Make sure that once you start the process the clamps do not touch each other, otherwise you can be electrocuted.
Step 3: Making the Connection
- This is the step where you will connect the batteries. Make sure that you are aware of what's going on around you, and that the person in the other car can hear you and is aware of where you are and what you are doing.
- If the terminals on the batteries have any corrosion, you will need to use the wire brush and clean them off.
- Start by clamping the positive jumper cable red clamp to the positive red terminal on the dead battery.
- Connect the other positive red clamp to the positive red terminal onto the charged car battery.
- Make sure your remaining two clamps are not touching one another or you may short out the circuit or electrocute yourself.
- Clamp the negative black clamp to the negative black terminal on the charged car battery.
- Now attach the other negative clamp to an unpainted metal surface on the dead car's frame. This will provide the ground to the circuit and reduces the risk of explosion.
Step 4: Starting the Cars
- Now that you have everything connected correctly and checked that the cables are out of the way, you are ready to start the cars.
- Start the engine of the car that works. Let it idle for 4 or 5 minutes, longer if the dead battery is old, it is very cold out, or if the car has not been started for a long time (a couple of weeks or more).
- Get into the car with the dead battery. Have the other person stand well away from the engine area.
- Start the car. If it starts successfully, let both cars idle for a few minutes while connected.
- If it doesn't start, don't keep trying; you may end up doing more harm than good. It's time to call for professional help.
- Once you have the car running smoothly, you can disconnect the cables in reverse order:
- Remove the black clamp from the car frame.
- Remove the black clamp from the battery.
- Remove the red clamp from the 'fully charged' car battery.
- Remove the red clamp from the 'dead' car battery.
- Make sure that the disconnected clamps don't touch one another until everything is disconnected.
- Be careful not to drop the cable into the engine compartment.
Step 5: Cleaning Up and Battery Recharge
- Make sure that you take the time to stow your cables and brush back where you were storing them.
- To make sure the battery recharges, you should either drive the car for an extended period of time, or take it to a mechanic for proper charging.
- You could also attach it to your own battery charger when you get home.
- If your battery does not seem to hold a charge, it may be time to get a new one.
- Drive the freshly boosted car to a safe place before shutting off the engine again. Depending on the condition of the battery you may need a jump the next time you try to start the car.
About this page
-
Page Views526
This page currently has no vertical manager.
Featured Pages
