Jumping a Car Battery, How to Jump-start Your Car

So your car doesn’t start and you think you have a dead battery.  Looks like you’ll be jumping a car battery. It’s time to get out the jumper cables you keep in your car.  Maybe getting the jumper cables isn’t your first step.  If your car doesn’t crank there are plenty of causes.  However, you have to start somewhere.  Jumping a car battery is a good starting point.   If you hook up your jumper cables correctly, you won’t cause any more damage.  Even if your battery isn’t dead trying to jump-start your car is a good starting point when your car won’t crank.

Since you already carry jumper cables in your car. The first thing you have to find is another good battery.  It’s not hard to find someone who is will to help you. What’s hard to find is people who carry jumper cables.  Make sure when asking someone for help they know you have cables.

Jumping a car battery

• 

  You have a set of jumper cables, your car, another car with a good battery, you can start.
• The first thing is to find both batteries, most likely they are under the hood.  However, check the owner’s manual you keep in your car.
• Find the positive post on the dead battery and hook the red clamp of the jumper cable to it first.
• Then attach the other red clamp to the positive post of the good battery.
• Next, attach the black cable to the negative post on the good battery.
• Go back to the car with the dead battery and attach the black cable to a good ground.

  

Finding Positive and Negative Posts

All batteries are labeled with either POS, NEG, +,- or all the these.  Sometimes you may have to wipe off the battery a bit to see the label next to the battery posts.  If you can’t find the label look at the post size.  The posts will be slightly different sized with the positive post being the bigger around of the two.

Of course, there is one exception to the different sized posts.  That’s going to be side post batteries.  This will have color-coded cables.  With red being positive and black being negative.

The Ground

It’s not advised to use the negative post on the dead battery.  However, it will do in a pinch. You can usually find a place on the engine that will work.  Use the strut tower nuts for a ground or one of the engine bracket bolts.  Whatever you can find that’s metal.

Make sure you wiggle the cable a bit so that you have a good connection with the metal.  You do this because many engines have grease or rust on them that may inhibit a good connection. Most front-wheel-drive car has struts and they are normally close to the car’s battery.

Crank it up

Now that you have your cables hooked up all you have to do is start the car with the good battery wait a couple of minutes to charge the dead car’s battery. Then attempt to start your car.  If your car turns over slowly but doesn’t start, give it a few more minutes and try again.  After a few attempts at cranking your engine, if your car doesn’t start, try wiggling the clamps to get a better connection.  If your car still won’t start, you’ll need to start thinking about calling a tow truck.  It is possible that you don’t have a good enough set of jumper cables.  However, it’s more likely you have a deeper issue that jumping a car battery won’t fix.