How to Start a Car With a Dead Battery
If your car’s battery is dead and the car won’t start, and there’s no other vehicle whose battery you can use, and your car has a manual transmission, you can try what’s called a “push start” (bump start). This action isn’t possible on automatic-transmission cars.
This means pushing a manual-transmission vehicle to get it moving, then suddenly releasing the clutch pedal a few times in 2nd gear. It’s used in difficult situations, but it’s a practice that can damage the car. It has the potential to damage the fuel injector, the timing belt, the catalytic converter, or the valves.
Correct Cable Connection Order
When jump-starting a battery, connect the positive terminals first, then the negative terminal on the working car, and finally the grounding point.
Short-Circuit Risk
Cables touching each other or the wrong terminals creates a serious risk of sparking and short-circuiting.
Same Voltage Requirement
The batteries of the two vehicles must have the same voltage (typically 12V) for a jump start.
What Is a Jump Start?
We can roughly describe a jump start as transferring charge from one battery to another. It’s a procedure done in urgent, important situations when your car’s battery runs down. The basic idea behind a jump start is that, by connecting another vehicle’s battery in parallel with your car’s battery, the donor battery essentially behaves as though it were your own car’s battery.
You can jump-start a dead battery using another vehicle’s battery and a set of jumper cables.
A jump start is a procedure that needs to be done carefully.
An incorrectly performed jump start can cause faults in the electronic control unit (what we call the car’s “brain”) and various components — especially in fuel-injected cars — and result in a fairly hefty repair bill.
For those wondering, is a jump start harmful, let us note that a jump start done correctly will not harm your vehicle.
How Is a Jump Start Done?
- Connect the red terminals, positive to positive.
- Connect the black terminals from the chassis of the dead-battery car to the NEGATIVE terminal of the working-battery car
- Start the other vehicle, let it idle for 10 minutes
- Lightly rev the other vehicle to 2500-3000 rpm
- Start your car. Let it run for about 5 minutes at 2000 rpm.
REMOVING THE JUMPER CABLES: Remove the black cable first, then the red one.
To charge from battery to battery, first open both cars’ hoods. Locate the batteries and remove the plastic covers from the battery terminals.
There’s an important point to watch out for here.
The jumper cable and clamp. The red clamp always connects to the + terminal. (above)
How Are Jumper Cables Connected?
RED-TIPPED cable:
ONE END, to the Positive (+) terminal of the car with the working battery,
THE OTHER END, to the Positive (+) terminal of the car with the dead battery.
BLACK-TIPPED battery cable:
ONE END to any bare metal part of the dead-battery car’s body,
THE OTHER END, to the Negative (-) terminal of the car with the working battery.
WARNING: NEVER CONNECT THE (+) AND (-) TERMINALS TO EACH OTHER
Some people connect the cable to the negative (-) terminal of the dead battery as well, but this isn’t recommended, since it can sometimes cause sparking at the battery. It also isn’t necessary anyway — attaching it to any bare metal part of the dead-battery car completes the circuit just the same.
Make sure the cables don’t touch moving or hot parts such as the exhaust or the fan.
Then start the car with the working battery and let it idle for 8-10 minutes. (during this time, keep the ignition off on the dead-battery car)
After enough time has passed, lightly rev the car with the working battery to 2500-3000 rpm, and while doing so, turn the ignition on the dead-battery car. If you’ve waited long enough, the car will start. If it doesn’t start, turn off the ignition, wait a bit longer, and try again. Ultimately, how long you need to wait depends on the strength of the working battery.
After the dead-battery car’s engine starts, don’t immediately disconnect the jumper cables. Let the engine run for 5 minutes at 2000 rpm.
You can remove the cables from the dead-battery car first, then from the car you got the jump start from.
During this step, remove the negative (-) cable first, then the positive (+) cable.
What You Need to Know for a Proper Jump Start
To start the engine with a jump start, both batteries need to have the same voltage (12 V) and the same current rating (55Ah, 60Ah, 72Ah, etc.). (This information is printed on the battery)
Make sure the vehicle you’re getting the jump start from isn’t touching your vehicle. If the vehicles touch each other, an electric current forms across the vehicles as soon as the positive ends of the jumper cables are connected. This can create hazards.
When getting a jump start from another vehicle’s engine, you should turn off unnecessary lights and accessories in both vehicles.
In this article, we explained what to do when your car’s battery dies. We tried to cover, with plenty of pictures and details, how to jump-start a car from another car’s battery. We showed how the jumper cables are connected. We covered what to watch out for while jump-starting a battery. Looking forward to meeting you in future articles. We wish you good trips and accident-free driving.
Related Questions
A connection made in the wrong order or to the wrong terminals can create a serious spark, leading to a short circuit or even a battery explosion. The correct order minimizes this risk and makes the procedure safe.
This method carries a risk of damaging sensitive parts such as the fuel injector, timing belt, or valves. When it’s possible to jump-start the battery instead, the safer alternative should be preferred over this risky method.
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