How to Jump Start a Car

A dead car battery is one of the worst situations you can be presented with. Fortunately, with a friend's car and a set of jumper cables, you can bring your car back to life without too much hassle. However, if you do not know how to jump start a car, you will never get out of your predicament. Here are the steps you must take to successfully jump start your car the first time around and get back on the road.

Begin by looking at the battery in the car. If it is frozen, leaking, cracked or damaged in another way, you should not attempt to jump it because the battery could explode. Once you deem the situation safe, bring a running car as close next to the car as possible so the cables will reach from one car battery to the other. Then, turn off the live car. Check to ensure that everything in the car is disengaged-turn off the headlights, interior lights, and radio. Make sure that through the process the jumper cables do not touch each other, the ground, or anything wet or made of metal.

You are now ready to begin. Hook one red cable to the red battery post of the dead car. Then, take the other red cable and attach it to the red battery post of the live car. Now, take one black cable and attach it to the black battery post of the live car. The final black cable should be attached to a clean, exposed piece of metal under the hood of the car. While attaching it to the negative terminal of the car's battery may work to jump start the car, it may also destroy the battery or give you a fireworks display you were not prepared for.

Start the live car and let the car begin to charge off the live battery. This may take three to five minutes. Then, attempt to start up the car. If you did everything correctly, it should start up normally. Allow it to run in place for a few minutes as you remove the cables in the opposite order that you put them on. Drive the newly-jumped car around for 20 to 30 minutes to allow the battery to get more of a charge. If you find yourself needing to jump your car quite frequently, it may be time to buy a new battery.