How to Jump Start a Car

Though a dead car battery can seem inconvenient and frustrating, it is a quick problem to resolve. All you need are jumper cables and a friendly Tinley Park neighbor or family member’s car. Following the guide below, you’ll learn the proper way to jump start a car, which means your Dodge Durango or other vehicles will be back up and running on the Orland Park streets in no time.

How to Properly Jump Start a Car

Wondering how to jump start a car? You have two options should your car battery die: call a jump start car service like one that may be included in your roadside assistance plan, or find another person’s vehicle and do it yourself. To jump start your car yourself, follow these simple steps:

• Park the helper vehicle across from the dead battery so the hoods face each other. Both cars should be off.
• Open both hoods and locate the starter battery terminals. Sometimes, you’ll need to remove the plastic battery box case.
• Identify the positive and negative terminals. Check for corrosion and remove it properly if discovered.
• Connect the red clamp to the positive post (signified by red connectors or a plus sign symbol) on the dead battery.
• Connect the other red clamp to the positive terminal of the good battery.
• Connect the black clamp to the negative (black or negative symbol) post on the good battery.

For the final clamp, connect it to an unpainted metal surface on the dead car’s frame to ground it. A hint: bad, good, good, bad.

• Once everything is connected securely, start the engine of the vehicle with the live battery first.
• Turn the key in the ignition of the dead-battery car.
• Once the dead vehicle has been jump-started (you’ll hear it roar to life as usual), you’re safe to remove the jumper cables in reverse order you connected them.
• Let the newly-jump started vehicle run for a minimum of ten minutes. Preferably, drive it for up to half an hour before turning the car off again. Because a car battery is charged by the mechanical movements of your engine by the alternator, this will help ensure it recharges substantially.

Schedule Maintenance at Bettenhausen CDJR

If your car won’t jump start or continues to die very shortly after it’s been jumped, there could be a more serious mechanical or electrical problem occurring. Anything from a faulty battery, to the starter itself, the alternator or even a fuse could be the culprit of a dead battery that still won’t jump. If this is your circumstance, our contact our service department who will inspect and address the issue. If you’ve discovered you simply need a new battery for your vehicle, you can order a replacement from our parts department, which only sells genuine Mopar® parts for Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Wagoneer vehicles. Have other questions or concerns about your vehicle like how to reset your RAM 1500 check engine light? Or are you unsure about how to program your Dodge key fob? Our service department is more than happy to help!