Survival skills are not just limited to wilderness or emergency situations. Many times they are just common sense things. Take jump starting a car. If you drive a car, this should be one of the things that you know how to do.
jumper cables
What you will need:
- jumper cables
- a wire brush to clean battery terminals
- a car that has a fully charged battery that is the same voltage as your battery.
Before I tell you how to jump your car there are some safety considerations that we have to look at .
- Check your car’s owner’s manual. Some newer cars have separate lugs to attach jumper cables to. Some cars prohibit jumpstarting at all. If you are not sure, call a professional. Do not try to jump start your car.
- Look at your battery. If it is cracked or is leaking, DO NOT JUMP START! It could explode. Also, check the fluid in the battery if you can, if it is frozen DO NOT JUMP START! It could explode.
- Park the cars so that batteries are close to each other. Make sure that the cars are NOT touching.
- Make sure that both cars are in park and that the parking break is on.
- Turn off the engine of the car that has the live battery. Make sure that all accessories on both cars are unplugged. (A power surge can short out accessories, not good.)
- Make sure that the lights and radios are off on both vehicles.
Now we are ready to begin. It is very important that the cables are connected in the following order:
- Connect one end of the positive jumper cable (red) to the positive post (+ or red) of the dead battery.
- Connect the other end of the positive jumper cable (red) to the positive (+ or red) post of the charged car battery.
- Connect one end of the negative jumper cable (black) to the negative (- or black) post of the charged car battery.
- Connect the other end of the negative jumper cable (black) to a solid, non-paint coated metal part of the engine of the dead car, AS FAR AWAY FROM THE DEAD BATTERY AS POSSIBLE. This grounds the circuit.
- Make sure that none of the cables are touching any part of either engine that moves when started.
- Double check that all of the clamps are tight on the terminals of the batteries.
- Start the engine of the car with the charged battery, let it run at an idle for about five minutes to charge up the dead battery. Try to crank over the car with the dead battery. If it does not start completely, charge for a few more minutes and try again.
- If the car does not start, carefully readjust the positive (red) jumper cable clamp to the terminal to get a better connection and retry the jump.( If the terminals have any corrosion on them the wire brush can be used to clean them off.)
- If you can, let the engine with the dead battery run for about 30 minutes to allow the alternator to charge the battery enough to get ot a service station for a full charge. It is a good idea to let the battery charge for a few minutes and then test to see if the car will restart on its own power. If it does not start or loses power, you will have to have another jump start, be towed, or have someone follow you to the nearest mechanic, in case the battery dies again.
If you are in doubt about any of these steps, or cannot remember them, please stop, call AAA, or your mechanic, or a local service station for help. It is better to wait for help than to be unsure.
