When you’re getting ready to jump-start your car battery, you should find a set of jumper cables and another vehicle you can use to get a jolt.
- First, park a vehicle with a good battery close to the dead vehicle to almost touch their hoods. Engage both parking brakes and make sure both vehicles are turned off before you go further.
- Open both hoods and locate each battery. In some cases, the battery could be covered by a plastic hood.
- Identify the positive (red) and negative (black) terminals on both batteries. If they’re clean and free of corrosion, you’re ready to proceed.
- Connect the red clamp to the positive terminal on the dead battery
- Uncoil the battery cable and hook up the other red clamp to the positive terminal on the live vehicle.
- While you’re facing the excellent battery, connect the black end of the cable to the negative terminal.
- Going back to the vehicle with the dead battery, connect the last black cable clamp to a flat, unpainted metal surface on the car’s frame.
- With all the connections in their proper places, start the engine of the working vehicle, and let it run for a few moments. This process will pass a charge to the once-dead battery.