A dead battery is a major problem. The battery is responsible for supplying the electrical charge that cranks your engine. Without this charge, your car won’t move. Fortunately, you can often jump-start a battery to get your engine started so you can get to us for a battery replacement. As your GMC dealer, we want to tell you the steps in jump-starting your car.
Battery Dead? 6 Steps From Your GMC Dealer on Jump-Starting Your Car
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When you jump-start, you’re transferring electricity from a healthy battery to your dead battery. It’s important to park the car with a healthy battery as close to your car as possible. This places less strain on the jumper cables and also allows the electricity to move faster and with less loss in transmission.
Connecting the Cables
A set of jumper cables has a red and a black cable. The ends of the cables have metal clamps that must be attached to the terminals of the two batteries. The cables must be connected in a precise order, as an incorrect connection can damage the battery or start a fire. It’s also essential that the black and red cables don’t touch at any time. The correct connection order is:
Red Cables First
Take one end of the red cable and connect it to the positive terminal on your dead battery. The clamp must be secure on the terminal. Once the connection is secure, connect the other red clamp to the positive terminal on the working battery.
Black Cables Second
Once the red cables are secure, connect one of the black cables to the negative terminal on the healthy battery. The final black cable must not be connected to the negative terminal on the dead battery. This is vitally important as it could potentially start a fire. This last clamp must instead be connected to any unpainted metal section under the hood.
Start the Engine
Start the engine of the car with a healthy battery and allow it to idle for several minutes. Electricity will start to flow from the healthy battery to the dead battery. Then try and start your engine. If the engine starts, let it idle for a few minutes and remove the cables. If the engine doesn’t start, continue to idle for 10 to 15 minutes, and then try and start the engine again.
Remove the Clamps
The clamps must also be removed in a particular order. First, remove the negative cable from the unpainted metal in your engine. Then remove the red cable from the positive terminal of your battery. Next, remove the red cable from the positive terminal of the healthy battery and then remove the black cable from the negative terminal of the healthy battery.
Now you know how to jump-start a car. If you’d like to know more, contact us today at Dutch Miller’s Beckley Automall.
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