How to Jumpstart a Car with a Dead Battery Using Jumper Cables & Another Vehicle in Arlington, TX

Car batteries will sometimes give you warning signs that they are dying, and sometimes they don’t, which is why it is a good idea to keep a good pair of jumper cables in your vehicle at all times. However, for those who may not know how to properly and safely jump a car battery, Citywide Towing will share step by step proper jumping methods to help you keep moving on the road.

How to Jump Start a Car

Step 1. Make sure you have a good quality set of jumper cables. A good jumper cable will have a thick, well insulated cord with clean clamps.
Step 2. Park the vehicle that is assisting the jump start of your dead battery close enough that your cables will reach the battery of both vehicles. Then, turn off the assisting vehicle. (A manual or stick shift vehicle will be in neutral.) All lights as well as the radio should be off.
Step 3. Open the hood of your vehicle and the other that is giving the jump. Locate the battery in both vehicles. Some vehicles hide the battery, but often have the positive and negative connections exposed.
Step 4. With your cables, clamp the red which is the positive cable to the positive side of the dead battery. (Make sure each clamp is secure on the battery before proceeding. Additionally make sure the cable clamps don’t come in contact with each other or anything else. They must stay separated.) Then clamp the other end of the cable to the assisting vehicle’s battery, once again positive to positive.
Step 5. With both positive ends connected to each battery, grab the negative or black clamp and attach it to the assisting vehicle’s battery first. At this point it is important that the other clamp doesn’t touch anything! The cables are hot! Now attach the other negative cable to the dead battery. Make sure all the clamps are properly secured to each battery. Additionally, make sure the cables are not in contact with any moving components of both vehicles’ engines.
Step 6. Now start the assisting vehicle and let it run for one to five minutes. You may need to rev the engine a little bit to send a bit more power to the dead battery. Now start the vehicle that needs to be jumped. If the vehicle doesn’t start right up, don’t de-attach the cables. Allow both vehicles to idle for another minute or so.
Step 7. Don’t turn off the vehicle that has the dead battery. The other one doesn’t matter as much. With the vehicle still running, remove the cables. Remove the cables in the reverse order–negatives first and then positive. Again, don’t let the clamps make contact with anything until they are all removed.
Step 8. Drive the vehicles with the dead battery for at least 20 minutes to help restore the battery or drive to an auto store to replace your vehicle’s battery, especially if the battery is old.

Towing & Roadside Assistance in Addison, Balch Springs, Carrollton, Cedar Hill, Cockrell Hill, Combine, Coppell, DeSoto, Farmers Branch, Ferris, Garland, Glenn Heights, Grapevine, Highland Park, Hutchins, Lancaster, Lewisville, Ovilla, Richardson, Rowlett, Sachse, Seagoville, Sunnyvale, University Park, Wilmer, Wylie, Duncanville, Grand Prairie, Arlington, Irving, Mesquite & Greater Dallas, Texas

If your battery died, and you don’t have help jumping your vehicle, don’t panic. Contact Citywide Towing. We provide roadside assistance and can help jump start your dead battery. Contact Citywide Towing during your next automobile emergency. And if we can’t get your car started again, we can always tow your car to an auto repair shop, your home or other place of your choosing.

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