How to Jump-Start a Car

We know how frustrating it is to return to your car in a Jackson parking lot and discover that your battery has died and your car won’t start. Instead of taking the time to wait for potentially expensive roadside assistance, you can jump-start with the help of a friend or good Samaritan. The service center at Wilson KIA is here to walk you through the simple steps of how to jump start a car. 

How to Jump-Start a Car

In order to jump-start a car, in addition to another car with a working battery, you need a set of jumper cables, which you can purchase at most Flowood-area big box stores or even gas stations. Then just follow these steps: 

1. Park the car with the functioning battery facing the car with the dead battery. Make sure the vehicle is turned off and engage both parking brakes.
2. Open both hoods and find the batteries. Sometimes there’s a plastic hood covering the battery terminals that needs to be removed. 
3. Identify the positive and negative terminals. Make sure they’re clean and free of any corrosion.
4. Connect the red clamp to the positive post on the dead battery. Uncoil the battery cable, and then hook the other red clamp to the positive terminal of the battery with the charge.
5. Connect the black clamp to the negative post on the good battery, then attach the final clamp to an unpainted metal surface on your car’s frame.
6. Start the engine of the vehicle with the good battery first, and then, the one with the dead battery. Let the vehicle run until you can start the car with the dead battery. 
7. With the jump-started car running, carefully remove the jumper cables in the reverse order that they were placed on. Shut off the car that was used to help jump-start the dead car.
8. Keep the engine running on the restarted vehicle for at least 10 minutes to ensure that the weak battery doesn’t die again right away. 

Your new Kia comes with five years or 60,000 miles of free 24/7 Roadside Assistance. Call 1-800-333-4KIA if you’d like to get a jump-start from us. A Kia professional will meet you at your location to jump-start your car. If your car doesn’t jump-start, Roadside Assistance allows for complimentary towing to the nearest authorized dealership to find the root of the problem. 

Trust the Service Team at Wilson KIA

At Wilson KIA, we’ve compiled our decades of automotive experience to help you take care of your vehicle and save money! Take a look at our service tips to learn more tricks like how to check oil and to keep your car running for the long haul!