Dead car battery? Jones Junction offers tips on jump starting your vehicle

Jones Junction recently offered some advice on its blog about jumping a dead battery to get your car started.

Before jump starting the car, you will need jumper cables, the longer the better, and a vehicle that is running. Jones Junction also recommends you have a working cellphone, a flashlight and safety glasses or goggles to protect eyes from possible sparks.

The first step to jump starting a car battery is to "park the functioning car in front of your car so your engines are facing, but not touching each other," the posting said. Both vehicles should be turned off and have their parking breaks on. Next, "place the jumper cables on the ground, and make sure they will be long enough to reach each car." Then open the car's hood and locate the battery and battery terminal.

Once the positive and negative terminals have been identified, you can get started. According to Jones Junction, you should first attach the red positive cable clamp to the positive battery terminal of the weak or dead battery. Next, attach the red positive cable clamp on the opposite side of the jumper cable to the functioning car’s positive battery terminal. Then, attach the black negative cable clamp to the functioning car’s negative battery terminal. Finally, you will need to attach the black negative clamp to an unpainted metal part of the car, preferably a clean nut on the engine block.

"Check to make sure your red positive clamps are on the positive terminals both on the working and the dead car," Jones Junction said in the blog. "Now check to make sure one black negative clamp is attached to the negative terminal on the working vehicle and on a metal piece (not the negative terminal) of the dead car."

Next, wait approximately two minutes for the jump to work. Then, try to start your car. If the dead car doesn't start, wait another two minutes before trying to start the car again. 

Once the dead car is running, remove the cables starting with the black negative clamps. Be careful not allow the cables to touch each other during this process, the posting said.