My Battery is Dead. How Do I Jumpstart A Car?
Portable Battery powered Jump Starting device
You hop into your car, turn the key in the ignition and nothing happens. How many of us have had this happen? A dead battery.
How do you jump start a car?
Once you determine the battery is dead, the car needs a jump start. Now there are several reasons why the battery may have gone dead e.g. light left on overnight or an old battery that needs to be replaced. Anyway, it is easy to jump start a car using jumper cables or a portable jump starter.
1. You need a second car, ask a neighbor, a friend etc. who happens to be nearby if they would help you jump starting the car
2. Drive and park the other car close enough to the front of your car so the jumper cables will reach from one car to the other.
3. Turn off the engine of this "assistant" car.
4. Pop the hood open on both cars.
5. Connect the red jumper cable connector on the (+) - RED - positive side of the battery in the car that has dead battery
6. Make sure the connection of the cable is good by wiggling the jumper connector a bit.
7. Connect the red jumper cable connector on the (+) - RED - positive side of the battery in the car with a good working battery. DO NOT LET THE RED AND BLACK ENDS OF THE JUMPER CABLES TO TOUCH FROM THIS POINT ON!
8. Connect the black jumper cable to the (-) - BLACK - negative side of the battery in the car with dead battery
9. Connect the remaining black jumper cable to a ground source - NOT to the other side of the good battery! - such as an alternator mount or A/C compressor mount. Connecting the last black cable to the negative side of the other battery can cause sparks and in rare cases an explosion. Make sure none of the cables would interfere with any of the moving parts within either engine compartment. For example, make sure the cables are not near any belts or fans.
10. Start the car with good battery and let it idle for a couple of minutes.
11. Push the gas pedal slightly of the running car to increase the RPM and hold for a few minutes - this is to make a charging system for the car with dead battery by the alternator of the running car.
12. Start the engine of the car with dead battery.
13. Once running increase the engine speed a bit approximately to 1500 RMP and hold for a few minutes.
14. Turn off the car with good battery = jumper car.
15. Remove the (-) black end of the jumper cable of the jumper car.
16. Remove the (-) black end of the jumper cable of the now running car - Carefully.
17. Remove the (+) red end of the jumper cable of the jumper car and close the hood.
18. Remove the (+) red end of the jumper cable of the now running car and close hood.
Alternatively, there are portable products on the market like the Black and Decker "Jump-It" which can be substituted for the jumper car. Simply attach the cables as shown in the attached photo, follow the instructions on the portable unit and use it to jump start your car.
If the car needs to be repeatedly jumped after the car has been turned off, the battery isn't holding a charge or there is some other electrical system problem. In this case take the car to a reliable mechanic for replacement battery or diagnostics and repair as needed.
Articles that may be related to this one
Leave a Response
Entries(RSS)