Correct way to jump start a car?

[tyranical]

I'm off on a jump starting mission having never done it before, watched 3 different videos which give 3 slightly different ways of doing it.

Whats the correct way?

[samdale]

connect leads, start car 1, start car 2?

ETA: Pump accel pedal on car 2 when starting if required.

Edited by samdale on Friday 10th December 13:22

[curlie467]

Connect 1 lead at a time, as in postive to positive then negative to negative, easiest way not to get zapped by rubbing live cables against each other.
Once connected let car 1 idle for a while or if particularly flat then rev the fricking nuts off car one to get some power to car two.

[Hugo a Gogo]

connect the red lead to the + of the dead battery, then to the + of the good one

connect the black to the - of the good car battery and then to a suitable earthing spot on the dead car's engine, away from the battery,

[Hugo a Gogo]

or are you talking about push-starting a car?

[davepoth]

Make sure to remove the leads as quickly as you can, IIRC it's not all that healthy for either car.

[*Al*]

davepoth said:

Make sure to remove the leads as quickly as you can, IIRC it's not all that healthy for either car.

+1, remove asap, possible to suffer electrical 'spikes' which have been known to fry the ECU of some cars.

[kambites]

How on earth can you get a "spike" greater than the the higher PD of the two sources from two generators running in parallel?

[Bhuvsta]

Arent you supposed to leave the key out of the ignition untill you start the car? I think the power surge from jump starting fries the code on new keys or something like that.

[Jazoli]

Hugo a Gogo said:

connect the red lead to the + of the dead battery, then to the + of the good one

connect the black to the - of the good car battery and then to a suitable earthing spot on the dead car's engine, away from the battery,

This is the correct way to do it, but I connect the earth first, its not hard but the amount of people who haven't a clue and spout bks is legendary on forums

Edited by Jazoli on Friday 10th December 19:44

[lythaby]

If you go from + to + and - to - on a Honda Civic, chances are you'll blow the engine fuse, which is a pig to find a new one from!!!

+ to +, - on the good battery to the engine block/good earth.

[Jazoli]

You get free fireworks!

I've never really had an issue but I get your point

[chrisxr2]

I have always done earth first, habit from years of electronics work.

[Alex@POD]

What happens if the last positive connector accidentally touches the car's body?

Jazoli said:

You get free fireworks!

I've never really had an issue but I get your point

I reread your post and thought I got it wrong, so I deleted my reply as it was stupid. Turns out I understood right. Damn.

[Jayho]

Rololl it down a big hill and pray while turning the ignition and pumping the gas...

Lol, but your instruction manual on the jump leads usually give an indication, as does your cars manual?

[spikeyhead]

Jazoli said:

Hugo a Gogo said:

connect the red lead to the + of the dead battery, then to the + of the good one

connect the black to the - of the good car battery and then to a suitable earthing spot on the dead car's engine, away from the battery,

This is the correct way to do it, but I connect the earth first, its not hard but the amount of people who haven't a clue and spout bks is legendary on forums

If you connect the positives first then you'll stand a lot less chance causing problems connecting the second clip of the positive lead. If the negative is in place along with the first clip on the positive and you drop the clip onto any bit of metal on the second car it will make a shocking mess.

Put the positive cable secularly in place first then connect up the negative from the battery on the donor car to a suitable engine point in the recient car.

Also, turn on a decent load on the donor car, will damp any spikes.

[Ayahuasca]

Why attached the negative to the body of the dead car, not to the negative terminal of the dead battery?

[Jasandjules]

Ayahuasca said:

Why attached the negative to the body of the dead car, not to the negative terminal of the dead battery?

I do it battery to battery and it tends to work quite well.

[DKL]

I've learn't a slightly different method.

Connect positive from good battery to bad
Connect negative from good battery to earthing point on flat car, not negative terminal

Start good car
Put something big electrical on on good car - lights, rear screen whatever

Start flat car and once running again put on something with a high current draw as above.

Disconnect carefully.

Apparently revving the car is unlikely to put it under anymore electrical load than letting it idle but you want the alternator to work so put the system under load.

Now I can see the sense in that but I hadn't heard it before. And it came from a reputable,trained, qualified source.

Edited by DKL on Friday 10th December 20:11

[ambuletz]

I have always done battery to battery without any problems whatsoever. I keep car 1 running(usually ends up being mine). connect the leads up. rev my car for maybe 30-60sec twice above idle/around 2000rpm. hold the revs as they then start the car. take the leads of, close the bonnet. Tell them 'it was no problem' say (only once) 'no no its okay you don't need to give me £10 for that'. Then take the £10 when they insist it the second time (or usually when I pretend to run away)