How to Jumpstart Your Car Battery

Have you ever left your lights on and returned to your car only to find out it would not start? This is because the battery died. The way to fix this is simple, but you do not want to make any mistakes or you could damage your car further. I learned this the hard way. I had left my lights on and when I returned from the movies my car didn't start. I was fortunate enough to have a friends car nearby. Also, lucky for me he had jumper cables in his car. However, when we jumped it, we made a few mistakes. The end result gave me a fried battery, a broken fuel valve, and a blown fuse in my radio. After many attempts to jump my car, I decided to call AAA. This resulted in my car getting towed to a car repair shop. After towing fees, new battery, fuel valve and labor. Not knowing how to jump my car cost me $170.

First off, make sure your jumper cables in good condition. Next open your hood and have your friends or good samaritans car park close to yours. Open their hood too and turn their engine off. If you can't see turn on their lights. Their battery wont die, this will only be for a minute.

Wipe off both batteries with a rag so that you can easily read the positve and negative terminals. This will also remove any corrosion around the terminals.

In this case we will pretend you have red and black jumper cables. Attach the red jumper cable to their positve battery terminal. Next attach the other red jumper cable to your positive battery terminal. Then attach a black jumper cable to their negative battery terminal.

After that you want to ground the last cable. Do this by clamping it to any unpainted metal surface on the dead car. For example a bolt or the piece of metal the goes across the front. If it sparks, it is ok, don't get scared and throw the cable.

Turn on their car and rev the engine a few times. After this, attempt to start your car. Make sure your lights and radio are turned off. When it starts remove the cables in the oppiste order. The ground, their negative, your positive, and then their positive. Now your car should be able to run on its own.

Do not turn your car off. Let it run for a few minutes to build up a charge. Odds are you were going somewhere when you noticed your car didn't start. It is now safe to drive, but make sure your car is running for another twenty minutes to let the altenator fully charge your battery.

Hopefully when you park this time, you remember to turn your lights off.