How to Jump-Start a Car

At Sid Dillon Buick GMC Fremont, we’re proud to serve as your go-to source for all of your automotive needs in the Omaha area. We’ll provide helpful service tips and answer questions like how to properly jump-start a car when your car won’t jump start. Follow our guide below, but don’t hesitate to contact our service center if you have any questions or need a jump-start car service for assistance.

What’s The Proper Way to Jump-Start a Car?

Even though you can contact a jump start car service if none of the options below works, it’s best to try and jump-start the car battery yourself since it’s not a hard process. However, you’ll need assistance from another person, their car, and jumper cables. Once everything is ready, we have the directions to follow below:

1. Make sure the two vehicles with the batteries are facing each other. Most vehicles have batteries in the engines, meaning they should face hood-hood. After you’ve parked the vehicles, turn them off and set the parking brakes.
2. Get access to the batteries. Note: you may need to remove a plastic hood to expose the battery terminals.
3. Find the positive and negative battery terminals. They should be clean and free of any corrosion or dirt.
4. Take stock of your cables and separate the red ends from the black ends. Make sure that they don’t ever touch because they could spark. Next, connect the red clamp to the positive post on the dead battery.
5. Uncoiling the battery cable, hook the other red clamp to the positive terminal of the battery with the charge.
6. Connect the black clamp to the negative post on the good battery.
7. Connect the last black clamp to a grounded, unpainted metal surface on your car’s frame.
8. With everything hooked up securely, start the engine of the vehicle with a good battery. You can try to start the engine right away, but it’s better to let the car with the good battery run for a bit, then try starting the engine of the other vehicle.
9. Once the dead vehicle has been successfully jump-started, carefully remove the jumper cables in the reverse order that they were placed on, and keep the other vehicle running.
10. Let the engine run on the restarted vehicle for at least 10 minutes to ensure that the weak battery doesn’t die again. Check your vehicle’s owner’s manual for additional info on recommended times. It’s also recommended that you get your battery tested and/or replaced ASAP.

Additional Car Battery Tips & Tricks

There are other reasons aside from a dead car battery that your vehicle won’t start. Below are just some of those reasons:

1. If you try and start the car but only hear a clicking sound, the starter might not be functioning.
2. If the electrical systems of the car turn on, but the engine does not, there could ve several issues like the ignition switch, starter, or even something as simple as a fuse. It’s recommended that you bring your vehicle to our service center near Lincoln for further diagnostics and investigation.
3. Remember, keep your vehicle running for a little while after it’s was jumped. This is because some batteries can still hold a charge for some time after being jumped; this is normally the case after a vehicle with a good/newer battery has been sitting idle. A remedy to prevent this is using a battery trickle charger. Sometimes, though, an old and worn-out battery needs to be replaced.

Get Additional Service Tips at Sid Dillon Buick GMC Fremont!

If you need additional service and maintenance tips, we can help! Check out our service specials before scheduling your next routine service appointment. Contact us if you have any questions about how to jump-start a car, certified battery service, or with any service-related issues.