The Proper Way To Jump Start Your Car

Irrespective of the type of car you drive, there may come a time when you are stuck and you need to jump start your car or somebody else’s car. Learning how to jump start a car is fairly simple as long as you follow several important safety instructions.

If you are one of those people that are good at following instructions, then jump starting a car is something you may want to learn Irrespective of who or where you are.

Items Needed
The following items are needed for you to properly jump start a car.
– Jumper cables with thick wires and clean, rust-free clamps.

– Another car with a fully-charged battery the same voltage as your own battery.

– Rubber gloves

– Wire brush

– Protective goggles.

Furthermore, there are some things you should never do when you jump start a car. These include

– Never lean over any car battery.

– Never smoke or use a cell phone when performing a jump start.

– Never jump start a car battery where the fluids are frozen. It could explode.

– If your car battery is cracked or visibly leaking, DO NO JUMP START your battery as there is a possibility of an explosion.

What You Need To Do Prior To The Procedure
The first thing to do is to check your owner’s manual before you jump start a car. Some newer cars have jump start lugs to attach jumper cables to rather than directly to the car battery terminals while some cars don’t allow it at all. If you’re not sure, don’t jump start your car, and call a professional.

More so, ensure you park the cars in such a way that the batteries are close to each other, but the cars are not touching. Proceed to turn off engine of car with live battery.

Make sure headlights, blinkers and radios are off in both cars. Unplug all accessories from both cars, as the power surge from the jump start could short equipment. Also, ensure both cars have the parking break on and are either in park or neutral.

Your Car Battery
Before performing a jump start of your car, make sure you know where the car battery is located first. Most car batteries are located under the hood of the car. Some smaller or older cars have the battery stored under the back seat or in the trunk of the car.

After you have located the car battery, perform a thorough inspection. Every car battery has a positive (+) terminal indicated by red or orange wires, connections or cover, and a negative (-) terminal indicated by black wires, connections or cover.

You may have to remove a battery cover or plastic cover in order to reach the battery terminals.

Before performing the jump start, if you see any corrosion dust or excessive dirt around the battery terminals, be sure to use the wire brush to remove any form of debris.

Connecting Jumper Cables Properly
Loose jump start cables could cause dangerous sparking, and ignite any loose gas. To minimize risk, you must connect the jump start cables as follows:

1. Connect one end of the positive jumper cable (red) to the positive post (+ or red) of the dead car battery.

2. Connect the other end of the positive jumper cable (red) to the positive (+ or red) post of the charged car battery.

3. Connect one end of the negative jumper cable (black) to the negative (- or black) post of the charged car battery.

4. Connect the other end of the negative jumper cable (black) to a solid, non-paint coated metal part of the engine of the dead car, far from the dead battery as possible. This procedure is known as “grounding” a circuit.

To minimize risk of explosion, do not connect this last cable directly to the dead car battery itself. Before you jump start a car, make sure cables are not touching any moving engine parts.

There are two possible ways to jump start a car. The first is to start the engine of the car with the charged battery and let it idle for five minutes to charge the dead battery. Shut off the engine of the car with the charged battery. Disconnect all cables IN REVERSE ORDER and ensure that they don’t touch before starting the engine of the dead battery.

The second way is to start the engine of the car with the charged battery and let it idle for five minutes to charge the dead battery. Try to start the dead car battery without shutting off the engine of the car with the charged car battery. If it won’t start completely, allow a few more minutes of charging and try again.

A word of caution. If you are ever in doubt or can’t remember how to jump start a car, stop what you’re doing immediately. Contact a professional for assistance with your jump start. If in doubt, it’s better to wait for help to arrive than to attempt to jump start a car.