One of the easiest maintenance tasks is also one of the most feared and unknown… jumping a dead battery. Everyone has heard horror stories about wrong connections causing fires, exploding batteries, and all sorts of horrible outcomes. There’s really nothing to be scared of, as long as you know the steps and follow them.

Even if you learned how to jump a car before, it’s easy to forget how to connect the cables if it’s been a few years. Follow these easy steps and you’ll have your dead car running in no time:

Before you start, be sure that your battery is really dead.

If you turn your ignition and you hear the engine cranking, then your battery isn’t dead – and jump starting isn’t going to help. If you turn the key and nothing happens, it’s pretty likely that your battery is dead and a jump is all you need.

Make sure that you’ve got a set of jumper cables in your car – you never know when you’re going to need them. Knowing the steps in this post won’t matter one bit if you don’t have cables to use…

1) Make sure both cars are turned off

2) Connect the RED END (positive) to the positive terminal of the DEAD BATTERY.

3) Connect the other RED END (positive) to the positive terminal of the GOOD BATTERY.

4) Connect the BLACK END (negative) to the negative terminal of the GOOD BATTERY.

5) Connect the remaining BLACK END (negative) to a clean, unpainted METAL SURFACE under the stalled car’s hood. DO NOT connect to the negative terminal of the dead battery.

6) Start the running car – allow it to run for 2 to 3 minutes.

7) Start the dead car.

8) Remove the cables IN REVERSE ORDER (metal surface of dead car, negative terminal of good battery, positive terminal of good battery, positive terminal of dead battery).

9) Keep the jumped car running for at least 30 minutes to allow the battery enough time to recharge.

The most difficult part of the process is remembering where to put each cable. Follow these tips the next time you need to jump start a car and you’ll be up and running in no time. If you’ve got more questions about simple do-it-yourself maintenance tasks, call us today at 931-906-0002 and we’ll be happy to help!