You’re walking out of your apartment and notice a good looking gal with the hood of her car open, looking at the engine with desperation. You go over and ask what’s wrong. The car battery is dead, and she’s late for class. She asks you if you can give her jump. You look down at the ground, kick some rocks, and offer to call AAA instead.
You have no clue how to jump start a car.
Every man should know how to jump start a dead car battery. You never know when you’ll need this knowledge to aid a stranded damsel in distress or help yourself. While jumping a dead battery is super simple, you’d be surprised by the number of men who have no idea how to do it. Even if a man has learned how to jump start a car before, it can be easy to forget what cables go where. Positive on negative? Ground the positive cable on the car with the good battery? Red cable is negative?
To help you avoid looking like a putz when asked to jump start a car and to help prevent you from shocking the hell out of yourself when you do it, here’s the rundown on how to jump start a dead car battery.
How to Tell if Your Battery Is Dead
Before you try jump starting a car, you need to determine that the battery is the reason the car isn’t starting up. If you turn the ignition and hear the engine cranking, a dead battery isn’t your problem and jump starting it won’t do a darn thing. However, if you turn the key and the car does absolutely nothing, then there’s a good chance you have a dead battery on your hands and jumping it may be your ticket to getting back on the road.
How to Jump Start a Car with Cables
Note: You should always carry jumper cables in your car with you. You never know when you’re going to need them.
Don’t be this guy
1. Make sure both cars are turned off.
2. Connect one end of the red (positive) jumper cable to the positive terminal on the stalled battery.
3. Then connect the other red (positive) cable clamp to the positive terminal of the good battery.
4. Connect one end of the black (negative) jumper cable to the negative terminal of the good battery.
5. Then connect the other black (negative) cable to a clean, unpainted metal surface under the disabled car’s hood. Somewhere on the engine block is a good place. Unless you want to see flying sparks and a possible explosion, do not connect the negative cable to the negative terminal of the dead battery, .
6. Start the car that’s doing the jumping, and allow it to run for about 2 to 3 minutes before starting the dead car.
7. Remove cables in reverse order.
8. Keep the jumped car running for at least 30 minutes to give the battery sufficient time to recharge itself.
And you’re done. Give yourself a pat on the back for a manly job well done.
Unfortunately, jumper cables will not bring inanimate objects to life. Including hot model women you build in your lab.
Remember:
The hardest part of the job is simply remembering where to put each cable. Many a man has broken out in a sweat wondering if he is about to make a wrong move and toast himself to a crisp. Here’s the good news: It’s probably impossible to electrocute yourself from jump starting a car. The battery might give you a big shock, but the voltage is too low to penetrate your skin and put you down for the count.
But no one wants to be on the receiving end of a zap, no matter how mild. So come up with a mnemonic device to help you remember which color goes where. I personally think: red=blood=life=positive/black=death=negative.
How to Jump Start a Car Without Cables
If you have a standard transmission car, you can jump start that bad boy without using cables. Here’s how you do it:
1. Find a stretch of clear downhill road.
2. Fully depress the clutch and put the car in first gear.
3. Turn the ignition to on.
4. Take your foot off the brake and start rolling down the hill, leaving the clutch fully depressed.
5. Coast down the hill until you reach 5 or 7 miles per hour.
6. Release the clutch quickly. You should feel the engine turn and start. If it doesn’t start the first time, depress the clutch and release it again.
7. If you don’t have a hill, get some of your buddies to give you a push and follow the steps above.
Got a story to share about when knowing how to jump start a car came in handy? Were you able to help a little old lady? Did you have to do it in subzero weather in the complete dark? Drop a line in the comment box and share it with us.
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Haha. Great article. I’m definitely one of those guys who has learned how to jump start a car but then forgets. And then I get nervous about doing it wrong.
I don’t have any really manly stories about jumping a car. I did it for my girlfriend once who needed to get to class. And she thought I was her hero. So that was pretty cool.
Why the need to run the “live” car? I have done this successfully many times without ever starting the live car. Once connected, the batteries are in parallel, so there shouldn’t be a need to start the live car. What’s the theory here?
make sure the gal is good looking!
As far as I know when pushing the car or going down hill you should use the 2nd gear, not 1st. Good info anyways
I agree with Victor, in my experience it’s better to have the car in 2nd gear for push starting.
A word of warning though – if push-starting a car, particularly on a slope, be sure to let the driver know that the brakes are servo assisted ie; they don’t work too well when the engine isn’t running!
If the car doesn’t start and the hill is steep enough you could have a problem!
I remember my dad once left the lights on… In the morning he woke me up, I was about 16, told me he had a surprise for me and walked outside to the car. I went down and there he was asking me if I could give him a push.
Well, matter of fact, I’ve been on the receiving end of this :/ I’ve found my best female friend over a dead battery
So, there I was, battery dead because I’d forgotten to turn the headlights off. Stupid, oh well, but I’d been in a hurry that morning. No hill in sight and pushing the car was not option, because I was alone. At least I had some jumper cables. Just at that point this hot readhead walks into the deserted parking lot with the only other two cars being some small Fiat or something and a totally pimped out VW T3 bus. She went past me, asked whether I needed help and I told her, that a jump start would be great. She gave me that “oh boy, you’re cute but clueless, aren’t you”-look, which I totally misinterpreted and thought to myself “Yeah, what the hell, as if you know anything about cars, get your puny italocar here already”.
Boy, was I wrong. She headed towards the T3 which fired up with the howl of… something mighty, but not a small VW diesel.
Later I should find out that she’s a mechanic like me and that that T3 she was driving contained a 3.2L V6 diesel with a custom fitted bi-turbo. All of which she fiddled together in her garage.
Lesson learned: Observe ppl for five minutes, before you judge them
@ Michael on September 11th, 2008 11:45 pm
Why the need to run the “liveâ€? car? I have done this successfully many times without ever starting the live car. Once connected, the batteries are in parallel, so there shouldn’t be a need to start the live car. What’s the theory here?
The reason you’d want to have the live car running is to help prevent killing the battery on it when the other car starts. If you’ve got a good battery, probably no worries, but if you have – say the one in my truck that is at the end of its useful life, you’ll be using the dead car to start the live one =)
When I first got married, I bought a set of these (http://www.safetplug.com/) from TrakAuto so my wife wouldn’t be stranded anywhere without jumper cables (no such think as cell phones then). They work great. You unplug the two halves, connect them up, make sure the LED is on and then plug them together.
And as a matter of disclosure, I don’t work for them. Just a very satisfied customer.
You should also point out that if your car breaks down on the interstate, jumping the battery won’t make any difference. If the battery really is dead, its because your charging system is broke and you’ve been running off of the battery until it was dead.
@Michael: Why the need to run the good car for a while? It allows the good car to give the dead battery a little bit of a charge before you crank it over. It ensures the dead battery is not completely drained and given a large dose of current during starting.
What I don’t understand is why it’s advised to connect the negative to the body instead of the negative on the dead battery. I’ve always connected directly to the negative, as the body _should_ be well grounded via the earthing straps to the negative of the battery anyway. The only time I’ve seen this issue is when there has been corrosion around the earthing strap terminals (all of them), and consequently the jump leads did nothing.
Are girls allowed to comment on this blog? My problem with these instructions is that I can’t find a metal place for the negative cable because there’s a big piece of plastic over most of my (Honda minivan) engine. So I end up using the negative terminal instead.
Is this why I had to replace my battery after just two years? Or was is the constantly playing with the lights and electronic sliding doors?
FYI, some newer cars have special instructions for jumpstarting, so do please consult the manual before you run the risk of frying some very sensitive components.
Next, how to rescue a stuck starter with nothing more than a hammer. If you go to start your car but have no luck (it won’t turn over and it won’t even click) but your accessories function fine, you may have a bum starter. If it doesn’t work after jumpstarting (or bumpstarting for the stick drivers) then your starter may be stuck. Tap it lightly a couple of times with a hammer or other fairly weighty object and try again.
It’s saved me a couple of times.
STL Mom, consult your manual. There may be a dedicated spot in the engine bay just for this purpose. My previous vehicle was much the same.
Good info. I just bought a new car (08 Cobalt SS) and had to jump start a friend’s car. I popped my hood and was surprised to learn the battery is located in the trunk below the floor, near the spare. There is just a jump post located under the hood. Are there a lot of new cars like this? Is there an article on how to change a tire? The search tab doesn’t seem to be working for me. Yesterday, I watched a co-worker, who refused help, jack uo his car before trying to crack the lugs. He rolled it right off the jack. I would love to print an article and hand it to him at work, with the Art of Manliness heading.
About three months back, I noticed two guys in front of my house could not get their car started. They looked pretty sketchy, but still…they were in need of help, so I figured I’d give them a hand.
“Need a jump?”, I asked, and proceeded to pull out my jumper cables.
“Oh, wow! Those are really good cables”, the one guy said.
I thought nothing about it then, and proceeded to jump their vehicle off of my truck.
The problem was that I have two black cables to my battery and the battery is very old and grimy. I hooked up the red cable to what I thought was the positive terminal on my truck.
Both cars started smoking and I quickly removed the cables. Overall, the cars were connected incorrectly for 1-2 seconds. I swapped the cables and they proceeded to start the vehicle and drive off.
Two hours later, they came back to my house claiming that when I had reversed the polarity, it blew their master computer in their vehicle. A new computer would cost them $500 and I was obligated to pay at least half, they said. They brought along a second car of guys to try and muscle me.
Now, inside the house is my wife and four kids. Messing with me is one thing, but coming to the place where my wife and kids sleep is another.
How these guys managed to drive around with a fried master computer is a miracle, but that’s beside the point. They were obviously lying and trying to scam me. I told them that I did not believe that my neighborly act fried their computer, and I did not feel responsible to assist them financially.
They disagreed, and one guy said, “hey can’t you at least help us out with like twenty bucks or something?”
I told them I wasn’t going to give them any money.
I also said they were entitled to disagree and perhaps we should have an officer come over and help us settle this dispute. At the suggestion of police, they backtracked and said, “We’ll have our legal counsel get back in touch with you”.
Right.
It turns out that their vehicle model and year has a computer that may only be repaired by the manufacturer.
Moral of the story:
There were many lessons to learn, but if it happened again, I would probably still give them a jump, but I would have them put the cables on, themselves.
@Kyle Gordon, @STL Mom: The reason for hooking the negative lead to metal on the car instead of to the negative terminal on the battery is because, in some situations, car batteries can generate explosive hydrogen, and you don’t want the sparks that are caused by making the final connection of the jumper cables to happen where the hydrogen might be.
I have yet to jump any of my cars myself. When I was a kid some neighbors had to jump their car and they must have had their wires crossed or something cause when the guy in the dead car turned the ignition, the battery exploded and one of the guys was hit in the face with battery shrapnel. Not bad enough to have to go to the ER or anything but it hit him hard enough to leave a mark. That scared the hell out of me being a little kid and now that I’m 32 yrs old, whenever I’m stranded and need a jump or have to help somebody jump their car I always let the other person hook them up and I stand back behind the cars or in the car while the jump is happening…
Guess I need to man up and do it myself next time…
Funny you should right this post. In the last month I have had to jump start both my cars and replace two batteries, sheesh. Funny thing is when I or someone else needs a jump my cables are usually no where to be found, most times their in my garage. Go figure…
-doozieUp
http://doozieUp.com
haha, I work on a farm where this kind of thing is commonplace and contrary to popular belief am not a hick (I work there, not live there). You do not need to connect the black end of the jumper cables to the engine block or another clean unpainted surface: it is often much easier (and contrary to this article, will not cause ‘explosions’ unless you mix up the terminals) to connect it to the battery in the PROPER place. In addition, REAL men leave the boosting car running, as there is no real danger unless you touch the opposite ends of the jumper cables together. Then again, even if the car is off and you touch them, you will be shocked. So leave your car running, help the lady out more quickly, get her phone number more quickly, and be on your way more quickly. All while doing it correctly.
Push starting a car will work, but not if the battery is COMPLETLY dead. (No dim lights, no clickclickclick from the solenoid, no radio, etc.) In that case, a jump or new battery is your only option.
Good article. But I do have one huge problem with it. Simply, you should NEVER connect the positive first, and, when finished, you should ALWAYS disconnect the negative first. Otherwise you could incur a ground short and kill the battery, if not yourself. Plus if there’s any lingering hydrogen gas lingering around that dead battery, the spark from the ground short will ignite it, and BOOM,, you’re dead.
It’s good to know I’m not alone. I’ve jumped dozens of cars and always need to think for way too long about what order to go in. I also don’t turn off the jumping car. The cables are hot anyway, and if you manage to short them out with the engine off you now have two dead batteries.
At least the polarity is usually hard to confuse. Most cars either have a red cable going to the positive terminal or a red cap covering it.
@G. Lynn-
I believe you are mistaken.
Sources on connecting positive first, then disconnecting negative first:
http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/roadside/jumpstart.pdf
http://autorepair.about.com/cs/doityourself/a/bljumpstart.htm
http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/howto/articles/43793/article.html
http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/safetips/a-e/carbattery.htm
Does it matter what color the cable is? Or does it just matter that the ends are touching the correct terminals?
@Albert-
The color of the cable doesn’t matter, it matters what color the clamps are. All jumper cable clamps are standardized in color-the black clamps are negatve, the red clamps are positive. You must connect the red to positive, the black to negative.
@Albert,
No. It does not mater. Electrons are colorblind. Just be sure to connect same to same (+ to +, and – to -). Its just a cable. I’ve used (large gauge) speaker wire to jump a car in a pinch.
It is a very good idea to orient yourself with your car’s layout before you are stuck. My car’s battery is under the rear seat inside the car, but there is a positive battery post in the engine compartment. Figuring this out while broken down would have sucked. Pop the hood, take a look, and you’ll be all the more prepared should you do something silly like leave your lights on.
I’ve jumped a bunch of cars (and I occasionally forget where to put stuff and in what order). But I have to say that my proudest moments have been when my wife was able to help someone else out because we had the cables and she knew what to do. I think that it is very manly to be a teacher as well as a helper – my wife can jump cars, change flats, etc. That makes me proud to be a man.
Once when out 4 wheeling, we stopped for a while to chug a few brews. One of the trucks would not crank and nobody had cables. Someone found a length of rebar just long enough to reach battery to battery. We put two trucks bumper against bumper and touched the rebar from + to + and got the dead truck started. Touching the bumpers together completed the circuit. These were old trucks back in the late ’70’s with steel bumpers. Can’t do that w/ these plastic trucks.
Next article should be how to change a tire. It’s amazing how many so called “men” out there are stuck calling AAA for such a simple task. It’s also more manly than jumping a battery since it actually involves a bit of manual labor.
The mnemonic for remembering red=positive and black=negative is COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY. After all, the two cables are exactly the same, except for the color. Just make sure you connect them to the same polarities on each vehicle. Problem solved.
Hmm, I have always heard that you should never push start a car that has a catalytic converter, though, as the unburned gas will damage it.
Thanks
learn something new every day. In a propeller aircraft, you call the second solution “windmilling”, not sure what it’s called in a car
Nice box you got there
sorry if it’s been said, but if your car is the injection kind (as opposed to carburator) or has a catalyst ehxaust system, do NOT push-start the car. You’ll ruin the catalyst and it’s a $1500 replacement on my 2002 car. So beware.
If anybody knows different, do tell
B
B – Fuel injection and CAT, you can jump them both. The only issue with a CAT would be a build up of fuel vapour in the cat that could burn the honeycomb away when started. It’s not stopped me before!
A tip – if your diesel engine doesn’t start because you ran out of fuel – a couple of sprays of easy start in the intake will kick it into life.
Another tip – sometimes your battery’s so dead or cold that your car won’t start even with a jump leads. I can help to leave the leads attached and the donor car idling away for 10 minutes or so. This’ll give the dead battery a low charge and your call will eventually start!
Always run the donor car when jumping, you may need the power. A few revs don’t hurt..
I dont know who said this crap but you always go negative first postive second and always leave the other car runing or you can fry the electical system!
@Michael
Another reason to have the ‘live’ car running is that then it’s alternator is putting out 13.8 volts, not 12, thus the car in need of a charge will get it’s charge faster.
In general you should not buy the cheap jumper cables, you should look for the best ones you can afford. Best as defined by cable gauge. The lower the gauge, the thicker the wire part of the cable. Thicker wire (not insulator, the plastic/rubberry coating on the wires, the faster the other car will get a charge from your car, thus making you have to stand there less time. There is no such thing as too low a cable gauge, the lower number the better, but beware, lower gauge means higher price.
Longer cables are better than shorter cables, presuming that they are of sufficient gauge… longer means that if you have to jump someone and get get as close as you would like (perhaps they are parked nose in and your batteries are on opposite sides in the engine compartment or something) then your longer cables will make the jump regardless.
Car Battery FAQ: http://www.batteryfaq.org/
Specifically, how to PROPERLY jump-start: http://jgdarden.com/batteryfaq/carfaq6.htm
Your owner’s manual should give specifics as well.
@Chris-
You are mistaken. Please see my response to G. Lynn above. The link that Mechmike provided says the same thing.
how about this alternative?
i dont have jumper cables, but i do have acces to a friends car. i took out his batteries, hooked it up to mine after my batteries are removed, started the car, and then swap his batteries with mine again. then i just leave the engine running for about 30 minutes to charge my old battery. works with any type of car batteries…
couple of thoughts…when ‘bump’ starting a standard, select second gear so that you, your buddies or the hill has more mechanical advantage over the the engine…just be prepared to shift to first REAL quick at the first hint of it firing…and on a different, but like minded, note if during cold weather your nearly dead battery doesn’t have the cranking power to turn the engine fast enough to fire turn on your headlights for a few minutes and try again…the battery’s voltage is provided by what is essentially a chemical reaction and, like all such reactions in a closed system, it is more energetic if more energy is put into the system [ eg. your engine compresses the fuel/air charge before igniting it ]…the heat from the amperage of lighting the head lights warms the battery and increases the voltage the battery produces…not much but, perhaps enough to to get the engine to fire [ heat is also athe reason why the first mass produced electric cars were sold in california and arizona and not nunavut; cold batteries produce lees energy ]..and if not and you drain the battery, hell you were already fucked anyway…this tricked saved my ass many times while working for a cheap assed funeral home in northern british columbia…lastly…why don’t the car manufacturers produce cars with standardized ‘jumpers’ built in so that you can simply plug one car, any car, into another as simply as using an extension cord?
The more I find out about younger people these days (I’m 45) is they guys lack of certain areas of knowledge like basic auto maintenence. Easy way to rememeber the battery/jumper cable this is to rememeber that another term for positive is hot. And hot is usually red. Ergo, red is hot and black is not.
On the battery, think addition and subtraction. A plus sign is also called a positive sign and is used when you are adding one number to another and a minus sign , called a negative, when you take away. Ergo the plus sign on the battery is the postive that you connect the red (hot) side of the cables to, and the minus sign is negative and are the place you attach the black side to.
What next, y’all don’t know how to change the oil or the spark plugs?
Its amazing what you can do with a car
It is my understanding that in the UK, the + and – sides of the battery are the other way around, so watch out. There probably are some other countries which have this.
ON JUMPSTARTING WITHOUT CABLES…
Its been my experience that using SECOND GEAR gets better results and causes less gagging, skidding and lurching when you pop the clutch. Makes a smoother start and is probably less wear n tear on the car.
dv
@Dennis and other 2nd gear advocates-
The couple of times I have push started a car, I used first gear and it went smoothly. But I’m willing to concede that the consensus seems to be that it’s better to use 2nd gear. Thanks for the feedback.
@morpheuse:
Dude, you swap out the batteries while the car is running?? Why does that strike me as a really, really bad idea??
why is it bad? you just want your ignition to start, so the engine can charge the dead batteries for a while. unless you are touching both cables at the same time =P
@Shadoglare: You can swap all kinds of stuff while machinery is running – you just have to a) know what you’re doing and b) be careful. Reminds me of the time I had to swap a bios eeprom in a running pc in order to revive a borked eeprom (someone had trapped over the power cord during flashing). Fire up second machine with same mainboard, boot into dos, remove original bios chip using plastic tool, insert borked chip, flash – tada, everything worked again.