How to Jump Start A Car

Whether it’s because you left the lights on or your battery was getting old, no matter how careful you are when it comes to maintaining your vehicle, a dead car battery is likely to happen at some point. Fortunately, if there’s another functional car nearby, you can easily jump start the car and be on the move again soon.

Jump Start a Car

Once you’ve opened the hood of your car and located the battery (refer to the owner’s manual for the location of the battery), park the working car near the disabled car and turn it off. Before beginning the process, wikiHow recommends inspecting the batteries for any cracks, leaks or other damage. If you find any of these things, do not jump start the car – call a tow truck instead or replace the battery.

1. Grab your jumper cable and ensure they are untangled: According to wikiHow, your jumper cables will probably have red and black cables and heavy-duty clamps to attach to the battery terminals. It’s important to ensure the red and black ends of your jumper cables never touch each other once they are attached to the batteries.
2. Attach the cables: According to Halfords, attach one red clamp to the positive (+) terminal of the dead battery and attach the other clamp to the positive (+) terminal of the good battery. Then, attach one black clamp to the negative (-) terminal of the good battery. After this is done, attach the other black clamp to a piece of grounded metal on the dead car, preferably the bolt where the thick negative cable from the battery attached to the chasis.
3. Start working car: Once you’ve started the working car, wikiHow recommends letting it idle for a few minutes. Then, rev the engine for 30-60 seconds to charge the disabled vehicle and it should turn on. If it does not turn on, you should reattach the cables and if it still doesn’t work after a few tries, you may have to get the car towed or battery replaced.
4. Remove the jumper cables: When removing jumper cables, it’s important to remove them in the reverse order in which they were attached, and to not allow the cables or clamps to touch each other.
5. Keep the recently disabled car’s engine running: Run the car on idle or drive around for about 20 minutes before turning it off. This should give the batter enough charge to start the car again. It is doesn’t, you probably have a dead battery or dying alternator.

Tip: Use WD-40_® Multi-Use Product to lubricate the latches of your car hood.