Have you ever jumped into your car’s seat in a rush to get to work and turned the ignition but nothing happened? Maybe a few stray or click engine sputters happened, but the car didn’t start! Much has been written and said about car batteries and how to jump-start a dead one. You can instantly fix the issue: jumping the engine and hit the road in no time flat if you do have the right tools and a little bit of knowledge.
How long to jump a car battery
It takes a few minutes to jump a car battery. Get prepared with a good set of jumper cables and follow the below tips.
1. Park the automotive next to each other
Bring the functioning car close to the defective vehicle but not touching each other. For an automatic transmission, set the cars in park while for manual transmission put the cars to neutral. Remember to turn off (with the keys removed) the car and brakes fixed. Then place jump cables in order avoiding their contact to prevent sparkling.
2. Attach the jumper cables
Open the hoods and attach each jump cable to the correct and clean battery terminals based on their coding (+ve and –ve polarities) by following instructions. Attach the positive clamp to the dead battery red (+) terminal and the other red clap to the working battery's positive terminal. Ensure the connection is stable to avoid clamps wiggling. Attach the partnered black (-) clamp on the working battery negative terminal, and attach the partnered negative clamp to a clean nut or bolt of your cars engine block.
The negative jumper cable of the dead car should be connected to a metal car part car like a shiny, clean and unpainted engine bolt to facilitate safe jump.
3. Charge then jump
Turn on the working car engine and let it run for at least a minute for it to work effectively. Now try starting the dead vehicle, and it doesn’t start, give the working vehicle some additional time to charge the battery before attempting to start again. If the car doesn’t turn on during the second attempt, try revving the working engine as you charge the dead car battery.
If the jump doesn’t work after many attempts or if the dead vehicle starts but then dies again, start addressing other issues like a faulty alternator, ignition switch, starter connection or fuses. Most batteries last 4 to 6 years hence if yours is old replace it.
Disconnect the black jumper clamps first followed by the red ones after the dead car starts running. Don’t let the clamps come into contact at any cost. Next, take a short drive to allow charging the jumped battery: the short drive helps the car's alternator to charge the battery making sure that the vehicle doesn’t die again once turned off.
In a nutshell, the above information will help you. Keep in mind that today’s cars are very complex machines: if you don’t have a little bit of knowledge, consult the experts to help jump your car battery.
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