How to Jump-Start a Car

Lexus of Tampa Bay is your local destination for Lexus service. When your car battery is dead, jump-starting your car battery is your first option to get back on the road. However, if your car won’t jump-start, our service professionals can help with battery replacement or diagnose a deeper problem with your vehicle. Want to know how to properly jump-start a car? Our dealership near Town 'N' Country has a detailed guide on the proper way to jump-start a car. Read this guide to get relevant information on jump-starting a car battery, then check out our other service tips, such as our fact sheet on hybrid batteries.

The Proper Way to Jump-Start a Car

While you can call a service like AAA if your car won’t jump-start, we suggest learning the proper way to jump-start a car. You’ll need another person in Brandon and their vehicle, as well as a set of jumper cables, to accomplish this task. The following steps will show you how to properly jump-start a car:

1. Orient the two cars so the batteries are facing each other. Most vehicles have batteries near the engine, meaning the hoods of the car will face each other. However, certain foreign cars will have the battery in the trunk. Once you’ve parked the vehicles, turn them off and set the parking brakes.
2. Get access to the batteries. You might need to remove a plastic hood to expose the battery.
3. Find the positive and negative battery terminals. Ensure they don’t have any corrosion and are cleaned off.
4. Separate the red ends of your cables from the black ends. You don’t want them to touch under any circumstance because this could cause a dangerous spark. Next, connect the red clamp to the positive post on the dead battery.
5. Uncoil the battery cable and hook the other red clamp to the positive terminal of the live battery.
6. Connect the black clamp to the negative post of the live battery.
7. Connect the final black clamp to a grounded, unpainted metal surface on the frame of your car.
8. After you connect everything securely, start the engine of the vehicle with the working battery. Wait a few minutes for that engine to run before starting the engine with the dead battery.
9. After the vehicle with the dead battery has been successfully jump-started, carefully remove the jumper cables in the reverse order that they were placed on, then keep the other vehicle running.
10. Be sure to keep the engine running on the restarted vehicle for at least 10 minutes. This way, you’ll make sure the weak battery doesn’t die right away. Consult your owner’s manual for the recommended time. We also suggest you get your battery tested and/or replaced immediately.

This is the right way to jump-start a car battery. If you’ve tried this and your car won’t jump-start, come talk to our OEM parts team near Riverview about a battery replacement.

Lexus of Tampa Bay is Ready to Meet Your Service Needs

We’ve shown you how to properly jump-start a car. If your car won’t jump-start, our team will be more than happy to assist you. Whether you just need a new battery or your car has a more serious problem, we’ve got Lexus-certified technicians in Tampa who can solve any automotive problem. Contact us today to get acquainted with someone from our service team.