How to Jump-Start a Car

Being stranded somewhere in the road because of dead battery is not a strange scenario for most motorists. And if you've been there, chances are it could happen to you again. If you're the type who just relied on kind people to jump-start the car for you then may be it's time to turn things around. Learn how to jump-start the car yourself with these easy steps.

1. Get things ready. To jump-start the car, you need jumper cables, safety glasses and a car that has a fully charged battery with similar voltage as the other car's dead battery. Although not necessary, you can use a wire brush and rubber gloves.

2. Check the battery. Batteries have electrolyte solution containing sulfuric acid. Take note of this: Do not jump-start batteries with frozen solution or do not jump-start if the battery is frozen. It could cause the battery to explode. You can check whether the electrolyte solution is frozen or not by taking away the detachable vent caps in some batteries. And if you cracks in the battery's casing, don't jump-start it. Instead, purchase a new one.

3. Ensure that the batteries of the two cars have equal voltage. See to it that the two cars are not touching each other and that each ignition is off.

4. Study the battery. A battery has two poles. One should be marked as positive (+) and the other end is negative (-). You could actually tell which is the positive terminal since often times it comes with a cover and a clump of wires while the negative one comes exposed with only one black cable.

5. Attach cables in a certain order. Using one of the cables, connect one end of it to the positive pole of the dead battery while the other point of that same cable should be connected to the positive pole of the other vehicle. Using another cable, connect one end of it to the starting vehicle's negative terminal while the other end is attached to the vehicle with dead battery, particularly to its engine block.

6. Get ready and stand away from the hood of the cars. Put away cigarettes if you're smoking. Always put on safety glasses as you do this. Get the vehicle with the functioning battery started.

7. Leave it for five minutes. Then start the vehicle that was not starting. If ever it does not work, wait a little longer before doing it again. Yet if still it won't start, it's time to call for a tow truck.

8. Take away all the connections in reverse order when you attached them.