January 19, 2021
In this episode of Tech Talk, Jon Hansen talks about jump-starting your car. Watch the video or read the transcript below!
Hey guys. I’m Jon Hansen back with another Tech Talk.
Today we are going to be discussing how to jump-start a car.
As the weather becomes colder, it becomes more common to wake up and have a dead battery. This is what you can do if you ever run into that problem.
Jump-starting a car is pretty easy. The main key is having red to red and black to black on your battery terminal connections. Depending where your car is parked and where your battery is on your vehicle, you’ll need to go nose to nose or side by side to get the best battery connection with your cables. The length of the cables also matters, so having a longer set will make it a little easier.
The best way to start is picking the vehicle with the good battery. You’re going to connect your terminals, red to positive and black to negative. They are always going to be color-coded on your terminals as well.
As you do this you might have to uncover the terminals. Battery terminal covers are pretty common but simple to push out of the way. As you’re getting them connected, you want to make sure you’re keeping your tips away from each other.
After your positive and negative are connected to the good battery, move over to the car that needs the jump and you’re going to attach the cables the exact same way.
Once you have a good connection on the vehicle, you’re going to start with the vehicle that has a good battery. When you start the good vehicle, let it run for a couple of minutes and you can give it a couple of revs to really send that charge through to the battery that needs the jump. It’s going to send all the energy to the dead one.
After that, we are ready to move to the other vehicle and try to get it started. If you’re jump-starting your car and having no luck, there could be other issues such as corrosion on your battery, worn-out battery cables, or issues with the starter. If that’s the case feel free to contact your local AAA agent, your BG Roadside assistance program, or your local BG mechanic to get help with this problem.
If it worked out for you, all you have to do is remove the battery cables and you’re good to go.
Hopefully, you’ll never need this video but if you do, you now know how to jump-start your car. Till then, stay safe, protect your investment, and I’ll see you next time.
By Jon Hansen
Central Kansas Territory Manager, Kansas BG
Jon works with dealerships as well as independent garages of all types and sizes. He has almost 13 years of technician experience before starting his BG career. In addition to BG, Jon does freelance writing and photography for multiple magazines on newsstands including Street Trucks Magazine, C10 Builders Magazine, and Tread Magazine.