How to jump start a car with a jump start cable and another car

If your car’s battery died and you decide to take care of this problem yourself instead of calling a roadside assistance towing service, you should follow some basic rules for your own safety and of others.

1. First, make sure your car is in a safe place to proceed with the operation and you are not putting yourself and the people that might stop to help you, in danger.

2. If you are helped by a stranger or a friend make sure that his/her car battery has at least as much voltage than your battery.

3. Hopefully, you have a jumper cable in your trunk or find someone who does. When you purchase your jumper cables you have a few options usually when it comes to the length of it. While the longer ones are convenient to use as you don’t need to move the helping car closer to the vehicle that needs the jump, keep in mind that the longer the cables are the faster they lose power, the farther the energy travels.

4. Both vehicles need to be in park if automatic vehicles or neutral if you are dealing with stick cars. Both cars should be turned off with the keys removed from the ignition.

5. Read the manual of your vehicle. Some models require a few extra steps to have a successful jump.

6. Hook up the cables properly:
• Your jumper cable has 2 clips on each side. One red – positive (+) and one black – negative (-).
• Be sure the clams do not touch each other at any times.
• Attach one red (+) clamps to the positive (+) terminal of your car’s battery first, as it has the least power, and the remaining red clamp the same way to the other car.
• Take the black (-) clip and attach it to the negative terminal of the helping car and then the last black clip to a bare metal part of your car that doesn’t have any paint on it and it’s not near the battery, for example to the metal stunts of your vehicle.
• First, start the engine of the other car and let it run for at least 5 minutes before you attempt to start yours. If your car does not star at the 1st attempt leave it another 5 minutes and then try again. If you are not successful this time either you should call a towing company to help you out because your car battery cannot be helped this way.
• Once the dead battery is working again you can start disconnecting the jumping cable, but you must follow this order: first, disconnect the black (-) clamps and then tee red ones.
• If the process described until now was successful do not turn your engine off before driving around for 15-30 minute to give time to your battery to charge. If you don’t your car might not start the next time and you could need another jump.

If you followed all of the instructions and your car won’t start the next attempt to start it, you might have to replace your battery as it’s not capable to hold a charge anymore. Remember that batteries last about 4 to 6 years on average. We recommend, after each jump start that your battery to be checked out by a professional. Many places in Charlotte, NC offer free battery diagnostic.

If you have more questions you can watch this video: