A jump start will help bring your car back to life for a short time if the battery has failed or there’s a charging component failure. If your engine won’t spin over, the battery may be the problem. If that’s the case, a jump start can get you back on the road for long enough to get to your local AutoZone or a repair shop.

You’ll need another car and a pair of jumper cables, or a portable jump starter. This only takes a few minutes to set up, but you’ll want to carefully follow a few specific steps to stay safe. It’s always a good idea to have jumper cables and an emergency kit or battery booster in your vehicle in case you have a problem.

A note of caution: If the vehicle that will not start has an internal short or other electrical problems damage may possibly occur to the other vehicle when the jumper cables are connected.

HOW TO JUMP A CAR BATTERY

1. SAFETY FIRST

Before beginning ensure your clothing and jewelry do not interfere during the procedure. It’s a good idea to wear protective gloves and goggles if you can, and keep loose hair or clothing tied up. NO smoking allowed near the batteries to stay precautionary of your surroundings.

2. INSPECT AND CLEAN YOUR JUMPER CABLES

Make sure the connectors and wires are in good shape and rust free. Clean the clamps before attaching them to the car batteries. Even unused clamps may have gunk if they’ve been sitting in your garage or the trunk of your car for an extended period of time.

If you have a portable jump starter, it likely comes with cables. These are the ones you’ll want to inspect.

3. PARK NEAR YOUR WORKING VEHICLE

Park a working vehicle next to yours. Pop both hoods and secure them. Make sure the batteries are close enough for the cables to reach and not interfere with moving parts under the hood. Turn off both cars, and set the automatic gear to park. For a manual transmission vehicle, use the neutral setting. Apply the parking brake in both vehicles.

If you’re using a portable jump starter, you won’t need another vehicle. Just set the jump starter in a secure place.

4. IDENTIFY YOUR CABLES

It’s important to connect the jumper cables to the correct battery terminals. The red connector clamp will connect to the positive battery terminal/post and the black connector clamp will connect to the negative battery terminal/post. The positive battery terminal/post is denoted by a plus (‘+’) symbol and the negative battery terminal/post is identified by a negative (‘-‘) symbol. Follow the next steps precisely to stay safe.

5. CONNECT YOUR CABLES

Connect one red clamp to the positive terminal of the dead car battery. This is denoted by a circled (+).Connect the other end of the red clamp to the positive terminal of the working vehicle. Connect a black clamp to the negative terminal of the working vehicle. This is denoted by a negative (‘-‘) symbol.

To avoid ‘sparks’ close to the battery being jumped, connect the other black jumper cable clamp to a good ground on the engine such as a metal bracket. Some vehicles have a large steel or brass grounding stud that works well. This step grounds the connection

6. DOUBLE CHECK YOUR CONNECTIONS

Check to make sure that all the jumper cable clamps connections are secure. You should also keep the jumper cables from twisting and in a straight line. Caution: Make sure the jumper cables will not interfere with the moving engine parts of both vehicles.

7. START THE ENGINE OF THE WORKING VEHICLE

Slightly raise the engine speed to aid in boosting the battery. Then try to start your car. If this doesn’t work, you may need to leave the working vehicle running for a couple of minutes. This will provide a new charge to the dead battery, assuming that it’s not beyond repair.

If you’re using a jump starter, this is when you would turn it on. Follow instructions to make sure you use the appropriate settings.

8. TRY TO START THE DEAD CAR