Imagine one cold, foggy, January morning in Oklahoma City, you’re already dragging and running late for work. You go outside to warm up your car, you get in, shaking and shivering, press the ‘push to start’ button and all you get is a bunch of clicks. You wait some seconds and you try again only to get the same thing. Your radio is playing, the display is dim, lights come on, door unlocks and locks, but your car is not cranking and starting up. You are already running behind, now this happens! It’s only Tuesday!

Don’t worry! Reviving your battery isn’t that daunting of a task and doesn’t involve hours wasted. Just follow these simple steps to get you back powered up and driving again!

Steps To Jump starting A Car

Time: if all equipment/items are readily available, 5-15 minutes

Supplies/Equipment needed: 

  • Jumper Cables
  • A Vehicle with a working battery
  • Rag or paper towels (if corrosion present)
  • Wire brush (if battery corrosion present)
  • Goggles
  • Gloves
  1. Carefully position the cars side by side, next to each other but not touching and open the hoods.
  2. Unplug any accessories (like a phone charger), turn off the headlights, radio, any light signals (including hazard lights), and heater or air conditioner.
  3. Next, inspect and if needed, clean the battery terminals with the rag and/or paper towels, or wire brush, clean the terminals of dirt, debris, and corrosion.
  4. Now, attach the jumper/booster cables in the following order:
    • Attach one of the red clips to the positive/red terminal of the dead battery. The terminal may say “POS” or “+”.
    • Attach the other red clip to the positive/red terminal of the WORKING car’s battery.
    • While still at the WORKING car’s battery, attach one of black clips to the negative/black terminal. The terminal may be labeled “NEG” or “-”.
    • The last black cable should be attached to an unpainted metal object on the car. This is to ground the circuit and prevent sparking.
Battery Jump Start Service
  1. Time for the “jump!” Run the working vehicle’s engine for a few minutes and then try to start the dead vehicle. If it doesn’t start, make sure your connections are correct and run for an additional five minutes.
  2. Once your battery has been brought back to life, keep the engine running. Remove the cables in the reverse order that you placed them: negatives (black) first and then positives (red).
  3. Drive your car for at least 15-25 minutes to ensure your battery charges or drive it to the nearest auto parts store to get a battery check, most times free battery test. If you can’t make it to get a test and If your car won’t start the next time you take it out for a drive, the battery, more and likely, isn’t holding a charge and needs to be replaced.

Safety first When Jumping your car:

Before and after jumping the vehicle, do not let the positive and negative lines touch each other when one is hooked up to battery. If touched, it will cause an electric current to flow and sparks will fly and you will get shocked by it. If you have any questions on how to properly jump your car battery or if you are in need of towing and/or roadside assistance services, give us a call at 405-437-8200. Don’t hesitate to call us when you need a jumpstart service in OKC, we will be happy to help.

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