You just never know when your car’s battery will die. It can be all too easy to forget to turn your headlights off, for example. Or perhaps a door doesn’t get completely closed and the interior lights stay on all night.
This is why it’s worth knowing what to do in such a situation. Our RAM service has these jumpstarting steps for you:
Jumpstart Your Car in Seven Steps
- Locate your jumper cables.
- Find a working vehicle and drive it up to the non-working car close enough so the jumper cables can reach both batteries. Turn that the car off and open both hoods.
- Find the positive terminal on the dead battery – you should see a POS or plus-sign. Attach the red clip of one cable to this one and connect the other end to the positive terminal on the battery that is working.
- Locate the negative terminal on the working battery. You should see a NEG or minus-sign. Attach the black clip to this and the other end to an unpainted metal surface away from the battery.
- Start the working car and keep it running for a few minutes.
- Turn on the other car. If it starts, leave it running while you disconnect the batteries. If it doesn’t, check to see that the cables are properly connected. If this still doesn’t work, the bad battery is completely out of juice or there’s another problem.
- If the car seems to be fine, make sure to drive it around for about 20 minutes or so to completely recharge the battery.
Do you know how old your battery is? They only typically last about five years, so if yours is getting up there, think about making an appointment with the service center at I.G. Burton Chrysler Dodge Jeep® RAM of Berlin to see how much life it has left.
