How to Jump Start a Car

by tbonecb in Workshop > Cars

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How to Jump Start a Car

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In this instructable I will show you the basics of jump starting a car.

Getting Ready

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First off make sure you have everthing.
1. Jumper cables
2. A car with a good battery
3. A car with a dead battery

Park the good car so that the batteries are close enough to connect each other with the jumper cables.(duh)
Then pop the hoods and find the batteries.


Connecting Step 1

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Now to connect the cables.

First, connect one of the positive (red) of the jumper cables to the dead car battery (+ or red) There might be a plastic cap to pop off too.

Connecting Step 2

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Connect the positive (red) cable to the good battery. There might be a plastic cap on this one too.

Connecting Step 3

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Connect the negitive cable (black) to the negitive post (- or black) on the good battery.

Connecting Step 4

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Now connect the last negitive cable to a shiny part on the engine or directly connected to the engine by a big chunk of metal. A nut will work nicely as long as its not painted oily or really dirty. A spark is normal when connecting this last cable.

Starting

Start the car with the good battery and let it run a few mins to charge the dead battery. Now before trying to start the dead car it is recommended to shut off the good car. But in my experience most of the time you need the extra juice of the alternator. So I myself almost allways leave the car running and I have not had any problems.
Anyways all thats left is to try and start the dead car. And once started disconect the cables th opposite way you put them on. The battery on the dead car will not have much of a charge so you should put a battery charger on it as soon as you can. I hope this has been some help and good luck.