Car troubles happen and maybe you forgot your headlights on or maybe you take it for too many short drives. You get in the driver’s seat at the end of the day, ready to go back home, except nothing happens and you realize you’re not going anywhere because your battery is dead. Now if you’re well-prepared you should have jumper cables in your trunk, if not, you could always call a friend. Having the right equipment is a good start, but you also need to know how to actually utilize it. So here’s how to properly jump-start your car or truck.
- Start by parking the vehicles next to one another: Park both vehicles in a way that they are facing each other, not too far but not too close that they touch. If you have a vehicle with automatic transmission you should put it in park mode. On the other hand, if you have manual transmission then put it in neutral.
- Shut the ignition off in both vehicles and engage the parking brakes: Turn off the two vehicles and make sure to remove the keys as well. Engage the parking brakes for both vehicles and put the jumper cables on the floor. Keep in mind that the clamps shouldn’t touch and the cables should be untangled. You can now pop the hood and locate the battery in each vehicl
- Attaching the jumper cables: You can easily locate the battery terminals, they’re usually marked with black or red and show a + or – sign. This step is vital for your car jumpstart to be successful, so take a close look and identify which is positive and which is negative. If the surface is too dirty for you to tell, take a dry cloth and wipe the terminals off.
-
- Attach one of the red clamps to the positive terminal (+) of your dead battery. Make sure it’s tightly fastened.
- Now attach the other red clamp to the positive terminal (+) of the other vehicle.
- Attach one of the black clamps to the negative terminal (-) of the dead battery.
- Ground the cables to the dead vehicle: Now look for an unpainted metal part of the dead vehicle and connect the other black clamp to it. It could be one of the metal struts that keep your hood in place or a clean bolt on the engine block. This step is essential to ensure the operation is conducted safely.
- Start the “donor” vehicle and keep it running for a few seconds: Walk over to the functioning vehicle and start it. You can keep the engine running for a few seconds depending on how bad the condition of your dead battery is and how long it’s been in use. If your battery’s really old or it died for too long, you might want to keep the engine running for a couple of minutes.
- Start the dead vehicle: Try to start your vehicle. If the car or truck doesn’t start then double-check that all the cables are in place and ask the functional vehicle owner to run their car for 5 minutes since your battery might need more power than you anticipated. If it still won’t start, the other vehicle owner should try slightly revving their engine while your dead battery is charging.
- Disconnect the cables in reverse order: Now that your car battery is back to life, you can start disconnecting the clamps from the terminals. You should do this in reverse order, so start by unplugging the black jumper cables first, followed by the red ones. And make sure the clamps don’t touch one another while parts of the jumper cables are still plugged.
- Take a 30-minute drive to allow the battery to recharge: If possible, take a 30-minute drive to allow your battery sufficient time to build up a charge. This helps prevent your car or truck from dying again after you turn the engine off.
Still unable to start your dead battery? Maybe your stranded for another reason? If you need roadside help for a dead battery or any other reason call Capstone Towing Company today…
Towing Service – Guaranteed Times Within Philadelphia Proper