Jumpstarting your first car was considered a rite of passage for some. However, for those who have never had a dead battery, jumpstarting your automobile for the first time might be a terrifying experience. While this is a relatively straightforward procedure, you should always be cautious when working on your engine.
Whether your car battery is dead as a result of leaving your headlights on or you are troubleshooting electrical system difficulties such as your engine clicking but not starting, learning how to restart a car is a crucial aspect of being a car owner (and could save you in a sticky situation). So, without further ado, let’s get into how to Jumpstart a car battery.
What You’ll Need to Jumpstart Your Vehicle
To begin, you will want a nice pair of jumper wires and a live battery to boost from (likely in another car or from a stand-alone battery). If feasible, jumpstart your vehicle with a companion. Does your vehicle need a jumpstart more than usual? Search for “Car servicing center near me” and get your car battery checked.
What to Keep an Eye Out For
The key to safely jumpstarting your automobile is connecting the wires from the live battery to the booster car correctly. You should also make sure that the metal ends of your jumper cables do not come into contact with one other or any other metal elements of the automobile.
The Step-by-Step Guide to Jump-Starting Your Car
- Place the jumper car near the dead battery (or, if using a separate battery to jump, ensure your cables can reach both dead live batteries). Close both hoods and make sure both cars are off.
- Move around to the dead car battery and locate the positive terminal (typically marked with a ‘+’ on the cover or, if no + or – symbol is visible, a red (+) wire is attached). Connect one of the jumper wires’ red (positive) ends to the positive terminal.
Note: While you are not utilizing your negative terminal, you need to take care to discover uncharged ground while setting up. For the time being, place the negative end of your jumper wires on your engine’s plastic (non-metal/non-conducting) portion. If you’re performing this with a partner, you may have them hold the negative end of the dead jump while you connect everything else. Battery dying often? Baleno servicing coming closer? Search for “Baleno service center near me” and get it checked.
- Connect the other red (positive) ends of your wires to your live battery’s positive battery terminals.
- Now, take the black (negative) end of your jumper cables on the live side of your lines. Connect it to the live battery’s negative post.
- Return to the terminal of the dead battery and halt. Many folks are tempted at this stage to connect the negative end of your jumper wires to the negative post of your dead battery. Don’t do this: attaching this straight to your dead negative post will generate a spark, which could cause problems in a gaseous and potentially explosive environment like your automobile engine.
Instead, seek a ground to connect to, which in this case is an unpainted, stationary metal surface under your car’s hood. Some contemporary automobiles feature a ground location separate from the battery designed for jumping your car (check the car manual to see if you have one). This might be a bolt on the engine block or the strut tower. Avoid aground near a gasoline source, such as near your fuel pressure regulator.
- Finally, before jumping the battery, you should double-check your wires. Keep the cords on your active and dead batteries away from cooling fans or serpentine belts to avoid getting caught in your engine’s moving parts.
- Start the engine and let it run for at least two minutes on the good battery. Then, after a bit of running, start the engine of your dead automobile.
