How to Jump Start a Car

Car problems are something that many motorists are familiar with. Everything from running out of petrol unexpectedly to breaking down, failure to start, battery failure, and tyre problems could leave you stranded when trying to get from one place to another. When it comes to getting your car started, one solution is to find another motorist that is able to help. If you or the other driver has jump leads, you can use these to get the vehicle started.

The step by step process

It is important to ensure that you follow the right process when you jump start a car. Otherwise you could cause damage to both vehicles and could result in injuries. If you are not confident about jump starting the car using jump leads, it is best to call on professionals such as a breakdown service.

However, if you are confident that you can do it yourself, there is a process that you need to follow:

  • You need to find another motorist that is willing to help you. The other driver’s car must have a battery that is fully charged and has a voltage that is equal to yours
  • Park the vehicle up so that the batteries are close to one another. The ignitions and handbrakes of both vehicles need to be off
  • You then need to use the red lead to connect the positive terminal on the fully charged battery to the positive terminal on the flat battery
  • You should then connect the black lead to the negative terminal on the charged battery with the other end attached to an earthing point such as unpainted metal surface on your vehicle. Make sure the metal you attach it to is well away from the battery and fuel
  • Once this is done, you should wait for a few minutes with both vehicle engines still turned off
  • After a few minutes, start the ignition on the working vehicle and leave it to run for around a minute
  • You should then start your own car and let both car engines run for around ten minutes
  • Once ten minutes has elapsed, turn the engines off on both vehicles. You then need to disconnect all the leads in reverse order to when you connected them. Do this with care and make sure that the leads do not make contact with each other or with either of the vehicles as you remove them
  • Try restarting your own car, and you should be able to continue on your way

If this step by step process hasn’t helped you, please have a watch of this YouTube video that visually shows you how to jump start a car!

You should bear in mind that even after going through the jump-starting process, there is a chance that your car still won’t start. If this is the case, then there is a strong likelihood that the problem is more serious than just a flat battery. This means that you will need to either call out your local breakdown service or arrange for your car to be towed to a garage so that it can be properly looked at. We hope you found this information useful – let us know what you’d like to learn more about, or what you found most interesting!

Apurva Thakur

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