How do you jump start a car? Does it matter which you do first positive to positive or negative to negative?

Question

I know this is a fairly easy thing to do but if you have never done it you can feel unsure. Can you give me a step by step?

Answer 1

Attach positive to dead battery.
Attach positive to good battery.
Attach negative to a ground (any bare metal under hood), NOT to battery, on the dead vehicle.
Attach negative to a ground on good vehicle.
Note that the postive is usually the red wire on the jumper cables, and the battery terminal marked with a + symbol.

The reason for not attaching the negative to the battery is to avoid explosion. Batteries contain explosive gases and when you attach the negative some sparks are likely to be emitted.

Answer 2

These guys are right, except for one thing. Battery explosions are only rare unless they happen to you. My battery exploded once, because it was low on water and all it took was to key the starter and the battery sparked inside and exploded. Thank God the hood was down, because the top of the battery blew off and took the hold-down with it. After you connect the cables, start the good car and let it run for a few minutes to charge the dead battery. It sometimes helps to rev the good car up a little and hold it there. As soon as the dead car starts, disconnect the cables in the reverse order you connected them, being very careful not to touch the clamps together.

Answer 3

always best to connect like this:
positive on bad vehicle to positive on good. then negative on good terminal to a clean part somewhere else on your engine. the spark made, if near a battery, can theoretically cause an explosion. they are very, very rare.
an easier way around this is to hook the positive on the good car first, then the positive on the bad, then negative on the bad, then last the negative on the good. this way, the good has presumably been moving & will have had any possible hydrogen blown away from under the hood while in motion.

PLEASE make sure you do NOT reverse the positive & negative connections!!!!!

Answer 4

The safest way would be to hook the positive cable clamp to the positive post first, then hook the negative cable clamp to something metal on the engine or frame, such as a bracket or bolt. That way if a spark occurs while trying to connect the cable clamp, it wouldn't be next to the battery where hydrogen gas could ignite. Hydrogen gas is a by product that lead acid batteries gives off when being recharged.

Answer 5

it is beter to start by putting on positive to bad car then put negative to bad car from one end of cables,then you put positive to good car then negative to good car.this way it will allow you to attemped to start bad car.hope this is helpful tips to you.