What A Way to Jumpstart Your Day

Jul 12, 2017

Burned your toast. Spilled coffee on your white shirt. Lost your car keys. By the time you find the keys and finally get to the car, you are frustrated at best, and then you turn the key…nothing. One more time with feeling…nothing. Third time’s the charm…aaaand your car battery is definitely dead. You get out of your car to take a calming breath so that you don’t put your fist through the windshield and you see it. The trunk has been open ALL. NIGHT. LONG.

At this point, you are already super late so you sit back in your car and try to come up with a plan. Not that any of the carefully laid plans you’ve made so far today have worked out either, but it’s better than nothing. Like a BLESSING, one of your neighbors is just getting home from walking their dog and you ask if they’d be able to help you jump your car back to life. After thanking her profusely and promising several times to repay her with SO MANY COOKIES you get your jumper cables and start to jump your car.

If you’ve never had to jump start your car before, here are some easy steps to jumping your car properly.

Take out your jumper cables.
1. If at all possible keep a set of jumper cables in your car at all times. You can never be too safe.
Place both vehicles in Park or Neutral and shut off the ignition in both cars.
1. Engage both parking brakes as well.
Attach one of the red clips to the positive terminal of your battery.
1. It has “POS” or “+” on it, or it’s bigger than the negative terminal.
Attach the other red clip to the positive terminal of the other car.
Attach one of the black clips to the negative terminal on the other battery.
Attach the last black clip to an unpainted metal surface on your car that isn’t near the battery.
1. Use one of the metal struts that holds the hood open.
Make sure to connect jumper cables in the proper order. This is very important
Start the working vehicle and let the engine run for a few minutes.
Try to start your vehicle.
1. If it won’t start, make sure that the cables are properly connected and have the kind friend helping you run his or her engine for five minutes. Then try to start your car again. If it still won’t start, your battery may be beyond help

In the event your vehicle doesn’t start, you can bring your vehicle to Fiore Volkswagen and we will be more than happy to check your car out and get you a new battery.