A dead battery is a major headache, but you can often bring it back to life with a jump-start. All you’ll need is a set of jumper cables and a helpful driver with a good battery. As your Acura dealer, we want to show you the steps to jump your car.
From Your Acura Dealer: How To Jump-Start a Car
Park Close
Ask the other driver to park either next to or in front of your car so that the two batteries are as close as possible to each other. The jumper cables need to easily reach from battery to battery. If the cars are too far apart, the clamps on the jumper cables can have difficulty in staying connected to the battery terminals. Once both cars are in position, make sure both engines are switched off and pop the hoods.
Connect the Cables
A set of jumper cables has a red cable and a black cable. The red cable is positive, and the black cable is negative. When you’re ready to connect the cables, the red and black cables mustn’t touch each other. If they do, electricity can arc from one cable to another and cause an accident. It’s also important that the cables be connected in a precise order.
First, connect one end of the red cable to the positive terminal on your car’s battery. Once it’s in place, connect the other end of the red cable to the positive terminal on the other car’s battery. Next, connect one end of the black cable to the negative terminal on the other battery. For the final connection, attach the other end of the black cable to a metal bolt or any unpolished metal in your engine. This is known as grounding.
Start Charging
Once all the cables are connected, head over to the other car and start it. Don’t rev the engine: just allow it to idle for about five minutes. While the engine is idling, electricity will flow through the cables to your battery. After a few minutes, go over to your car and try and start the engine. If the engine starts right away, you’ve successfully jumped your car.
If your engine doesn’t start, return to the other car, continue to idle its engine, and then try and start your car again.
Remove the Cables
Once your engine is running, remove the jumper cables in reverse order to how you attached them and pack them away. You’ll need to drive your car for at least twenty minutes to enable the alternator to partially recharge your battery.
Now your engine is running again, head over to us at Open Road Acura of East Brunswick in East Brunswick, NJ. Our technicians will repair the fault or replace your battery depending on the cause of the problem.
Connect with us
