How to Jump-Start a Car

If you’ve ever been stuck with a car that won’t jump-start, you understand the importance of learning the proper way to jump-start a car. Chevrolet vehicle batteries are usually in the engine bay, sometimes under a battery cover. Once you understand where to locate the battery in your vehicle, it’s easy to learn how to jump-start it. 

You can consult your owner’s manual if you’re unsure how to find it to jump-start the car battery, or contact us for guidance. Once you’ve located the Chevrolet battery, you need only follow the steps outlined in our Gwatney Chevrolet Company guide to get back on the streets of Cabot or Sherwood.

How to Properly Jump-Start a Car

You’ll want to take the utmost care when handling a powerful, dangerous car battery. Though jump-starting a battery isn’t as risky as installing a new battery, it’s best to review the safety precautions in your owner’s manual before proceeding to jump-start a car battery. Once you’ve reviewed the owner’s manual, you’ll need a set of jumper cables to get started. Regardless of your Chevrolet vehicle, any standard set of jumper cables should be sufficient. 

How to Properly Jump-Start a Car in Five Simple Steps

Once you’ve gotten your jumper cable, call a nearby driver or friend to ask for help. They’ll need to arrange their vehicle next to yours to connect the batteries. They should be close enough to give the jumper cables some slack but not close enough for the vehicles to touch one another. 

Once both models are in place, here’s the proper way to jump-start a car:

1. Take off both batteries’ covers and locate the negative and positive terminals on each.
2. Fasten the first red clamp to your Chevy vehicle’s red (positive/+) terminal. 
3. Fasten the next red clamp to the positive terminal on the functioning battery.
4. Next, fasten one of the black clamps to the black (negative/-) terminal on the functioning battery.
5. Fasten the last black clamp to any metal surface that’s unpainted on your car.

You’ll want to follow these steps in order and, when you unfasten the cables, be sure to follow these steps in reverse.Youdon’t want the clamps to touch each other as the sparks emitted can cause a fire!

How to Properly Jump-Start a Car: Battery Charging

The vehicle with the working battery is now ready to fire up the vehicle with a dead battery. You’ll want to wait a few minutes before you try to drive the car engine being charged. Once your engine can be started, remove the jumper cables very carefully according to the guidelines outlined above. 

Once you disconnect the cables, don’t turn off your vehicle quickly. It’s a good idea to keep the car running with a drive for at least 30 minutes after a jump start, so the alternator has enough time to fully recharge the battery so you won’t be left stuck again around Little Rock and North Little Rock. 

Service Your Car with Gwatney Chevrolet Company!

Regardless of the level of help you require when your car won’t jump-start or what questions you have, you can count on our Gwatney Chevrolet Company service department to be your jump-start car service around Searcy. Schedule service online the next time you need a jump start car service or any other service tasks. If you’d like to learn more about car maintenance, check out our service and parts tips and tricks.