Starting a car with an empty battery

Video: How to push start three different manual cars with a flat battery.

Content

To step
Method 1 of 2: Before installing the jumper cables
Tips
Warnings
Necessities

An empty battery can have all kinds of causes: a battery can become empty if the car is not used for a long time, if the car has been in freezing cold or if you have left your headlights or interior lights on with the engine off. To start a car with an empty battery, you need jumper cables and a car with a full battery. You can then connect the empty battery to the full battery by means of the jumper cables, and then breathe new life into the empty battery by transferring energy from the full battery. In this article we explain how you can safely start a car with an empty battery with jumper cables.

To step

Method 1 of 2: Before installing the jumper cables

Inspect the outside of your battery before you start. Your battery must be completely intact, there should be no visible cracks and no battery acid should leak from it.
- Do not try to start your car with jumper cables if you can see damage or you will endanger yourself and others.
Put on safety goggles and rubber gloves before touching the dead battery in any way. By wearing glasses and gloves you protect your eyes and hands against the battery acid that can leak from the battery.
Take a good look at where the positive and negative poles of the batteries are. The positive pole is indicated by the plus sign (+), the negative pole is indicated by a minus sign (-).
Connect the ends of the positive jump lead to the positive terminals of the two batteries. The positive lead is usually red. The order in which you secure the jumper cables is importantfollow this sequence: first connect one end of the positive red jump lead to the dead battery, then connect the other end of the positive red jump lead to the fully charged battery.
Try to start the car with the empty battery. If the jumper cables are powerful enough and if there is enough charge in the empty battery, the car will start easily.
- If you cannot get the car to work with the empty battery yet, wait another five minutes, then the empty battery can be recharged a little further.
Run the engine of the car with the empty battery for another five minutes. Now the car's alternator will continue to charge the battery.
Drive the booted car for 20 minutes or let the engine idle for 20 minutes. In most cases the battery will be fully charged after this period; but if the battery is no longer sufficiently charged to start the car, you need a new battery.

Tips

Pay attention to the engine temperature if the engine is idling for a long time, it may cause the engine to overheat.
At garages they can test your battery so that you know whether it is still in order.
On some cars (such as some Ford models) there may be a brief spike in current when starting with jumper cables.To prevent electrical problems, you can turn on the heating of the car with the blower on the highest setting. If a surge occurs, the fuse will blow, and with the heater and blower on, the abundant current will be absorbed.
With thicker jumper cables, an empty battery is charged faster.
Check the liquid level of the empty battery, each cell must be sufficiently filled.

Warnings

The positive and negative jump leads and / or terminals should never touch each other when connected to the batteries; especially not when you hold them. If it does, the cables can melt, the batteries can break, and even start a fire.
Gas can form when charging a battery. This gas can be explosive.
With a manual car you have to couple carefully.