If you've left your car lights or radio on all night, it's extremely hot or cold outside, or if your battery is just getting old and touchy, you may find yourself with a dead battery. This is usually a simple fix, needing only a set of jumper cables and another car with a good battery. You should always carry cables with you in case this happens, or in case you come upon someone else who needs a jump start. The trickiest part of this task is knowing where to put each end of the jumper cables.
Turn the ignition. If the engine is cranking, your battery is not the problem. If nothing at all happens, then you likely have a dead battery and should proceed with a jump start.
Pull up the car with the good battery so it's close to the car with the dead battery, but not touching.
Turn off both vehicle ignitions.
Connect one of the red ends of the jumper cables to the positive terminal on the dead battery. The positive terminal may be marked with a + sign or it may be red.
Connect the other red end of the jumper cables to the positive terminal of the good battery.
Connect one of the black ends of the jumper cables to the negative terminal on the good battery, which may be marked by a - sign or it may be black.
Connect the remaining black cable clamp to the engine block of the car with the stalled battery.
Adjust the cables as needed, if they are touching moving parts of either vehicle engine, like the fan blade or belt.
Start the vehicle with the good battery, and allow it to run for at least two minutes before attempting to start the vehicle with the dead battery.
Let the jumped car return to idle speed, and keep it running for at least 30 minutes so the battery can recharge itself.
Remove the cable clamps in the reverse order that you put them on: first the black end on the engine block of the jumped vehicle, then the black end on the assisting vehicle, then the red end on the assisting vehicle, and finally, the red end on the jumped vehicle.
