What to do if Your Car Battery Dies

Of course it happens on a day when you’re struggling to leave the house on time to get to work. You turn the key, and nothing happens. Your battery is dead. What do you do now?

First off, don’t panic. You can get back on the road quickly enough if you have a friend or find a good Samaritan with a car handy and one of you has jumper cables. It’s an easy, quick process, but it does have steps that need to be addressed in the proper order.

Here’s how you do it:

• Pop the hood and see what side your battery is on. This is important because you’ll need to get the other car parked close enough so that the cables will stretch between the batteries. Once you’ve lined the cars up, make sure to shut the ignition off in both and put them in park.
• Attach one of the red jumper clips to the positive terminal of your dead battery. Then attach the other red clip to the positive terminal of the good battery. Take the black clip that goes with the second red clip and hook it to the negative terminal of the good battery.
• Take the remaining black clip and attach it to an unpainted metal surface on your car that isn’t near the battery. DO NOT attach the remaining black clip to the negative terminal of your dead battery; there could be sparks and possibly even an explosion.
• Start the car with the good battery and let it run for two or three minutes. Now try to start your car. If nothing happens, check all the connections and try again.

If it does start, remove the jumper cables in reverse order: Take the black one from your car, the black one from the other car, the red one from the other car and the red one from your car. Don’t let the clips touch during this process.

One note: Once your car starts, keep it running. Drive for at least 20 minutes to give the battery time to recharge. If it doesn’t start the next time you use it and you’ve checked all the connections, your battery may be bad. Take it to an auto-parts store or a repair shop and they’ll test it, usually for free. If your battery isn’t shot, you could have a bad starter or alternator.

Source: AutoInsurance