It is finally 5 o’clock, and you head out to your car. You slide into the driver’s seat and turn the key in the ignition. The engine is dead. You have a horrible thought. It was foggy in the morning and you drove with your low beams on. You forgot to turn off the headlights. The battery is dead. Do not worry. If you have a set of jumper cables, Trinity Auto Care is going to list the steps for jumping the battery below.
Arrange the Vehicles
Enlist a coworker to help you jump-start your battery by allowing you to draw power from his or her car’s battery. Have your coworker park his or her vehicle so that the engine is facing your engine and you have about 18 inches of working space. Make sure the parking brakes are set on both vehicles to avoid the automobiles from rolling when you lean up against them to attach the battery cables.
Pop the Hoods
Open the hoods in both automobiles and secure them so they cannot fall down. Take a moment to locate the batteries in each car and remove any battery cover if necessary. If the battery terminals on the dead battery are corroded, you must clean the terminals with a mixture of baking soda and water before you can jump the battery. If the terminals are clean, you are ready to connect the cables.
Connect the Cables
Take one of the positive clamps on the jumping cables and attach it to the car with the working battery. You will attach the clamp over the battery cable to the battery terminal. Make sure you attach positive to positive. In other words, the red clamp to the battery terminal that has the red connector attached to it. Next, connect the positive clamp to the positive terminal on the dead battery.
You are going to do the same with the negative clamp. You’re going to take the clamp that has the black cable and attach it to the battery terminal on the car with the working battery. Then, you will attach the associated clamp with the black cable to the negative terminal on the dead battery. If the jumper cables are equipped with another negative clamp, attached this to a raw piece of metal on the car.
Start the Cars
You are ready to start the cars. Start the car with the working battery first. Once the engine is running, start the car with a dead battery to see if the jumper cables can get the engine started. If they do, allow the engines to run for a moment and then remove the battery cables. Do this in the opposite way you connected them. Remove the negative cables first and then the positive cables.
Head to Trinity Auto Care in White Bear Lake, MN, or Blaine, MN, so we can test your battery to make sure it will maintain a charge. If not, we will replace it.