How to Jump Start a Car
If you own a car, you're going to have to deal with a dead battery every now and then. Despite your best efforts, you may forget to turn off the interior lights, accidentally leave the key in the ignition or do something else that causes the battery to slowly drain until it's dead. In some cases, a dead battery is truly dead and can't be revived. The only way to find out for sure is by trying to jump start your vehicle. Fortunately, it's easy to do.
What You'll Need
You only need two things to jump start a car: a pair of jumper cables and a vehicle with a working battery. In some instances, you may also need a stiff wire brush in order to clean the cables and terminals of your car's battery. For that kind of work, goggles and gloves are strongly recommended.
Is the Battery Really Dead?
Before trying to jump start a car, figure out whether or not the battery is truly dead. Try the following things:
- Put the key in the ignition. Do the lights on the dashboard light up at all? Does the stereo turn on at all? Even if the lights and sounds are faint, the battery is probably the culprit. If absolutely nothing happens, you might be facing a faulty ignition switch.
- Turn on the headlights. If they're as bright as usual, it's probably not the battery.
- Try starting the car. If it cranks quickly, it probably isn't the battery. If it cranks really slowly or doesn't crank at all, it probably is.
Position the Cars
Locate the battery on the dead car and the working car. Park the working car so that the two batteries are as close to each other as possible, but don't let the two vehicles touch.
Connect the Cables
Car batteries have positive terminals that are red and usually have plus signs. They also have negative terminals that are black and usually have minus signs. Most jumper cables have similar color coding, so one clamp is red and one clamp is black.
You should follow these steps in order while connecting the jumper cables. Once any of the clamps are connected, don't allow any of the other clamps to touch one another.
- Connect one red clamp to the positive terminal on the dead battery
- Connect the other red clamp to the positive terminal on the working battery.
- Connect the corresponding black clamp to the negative terminal on the working battery.
- Connect the final black clamp to a bolt on the disabled vehicle or to a shiny piece of metal on the vehicle.
Give it a Try
Start the working car and let it idle for about a minute. Rev the engine a little. Try starting the dead car. If it doesn't start, disconnect the final black clamp and wiggle the others to ensure they are connected well. Start the good car again and let it idle for about five minutes. If these steps fail, you'll have to call a tow truck.
Disconnect the Cables
Disconnect the cables in the opposite order by which you connected them. Let the previously disabled vehicle run while lightly revving the engine for about five minutes, and then let it idle for another 20 minutes. This should ensure that it will start again without any trouble later.
