Really Long Car Battery Jump-Starting Instructions (was: "RE:Inflammable vs. flammable")

[Tariel, Lauren R]

Uh.  Yeah.  Thanks for the lesson, you car battery guru.  ;-)
 
I didn't exactly spell out the technical details of car jumping because I wasn't detailing how to do it nor was I preparing a technical document about the process. 
 
How's 'bout I add some more detail about my comments for you, Andrew? In jumping a car, I begin with correct order of steps, I know I should *begin the jumping process* with *step 4* as negative to ground, but given my experience with my trusty back-up vehicle, I usually wind up resorting to using negative to post, so I tend to *begin the jumping process* with *step 4* as negative to post (after steps 1-3 have been completed).
 
Or I could just call AAA, which is what I wound up doing because the car still wouldn't start.  The AAA dude went through the process of jumping the battery and adding fuel because it thought it might be out of gas since my gauge is broken but there was 15 gallons of gas in the tank. He finally whacked the fuel filter a few times with a jack handle and the beast started right up.  Doc that.
 
Lauren

________________________________

From: techwr-l-bounces+lt34=csus.edu at lists.techwr-l.com on behalf of Andrew Warren
Sent: Mon 10/1/2007 4:28 PM
To: Tariel, Lauren R; John Posada; Evans, Diane L (Rosetta); Techwr-l
Subject: Really Long Car Battery Jump-Starting Instructions (was: "RE:Inflammable vs. flammable")



Tariel, Lauren R wrote:

> I thought the car with juice had the cables attached to both
> terminals and the car with the dead battery had positive to
> positive and negative to ground.

    Yeah, that's correct... On the good car, both cables are clamped
    directly to the battery terminals; on the bad car, the positive
    cable is clamped directly to the battery while the negative cable
    is clamped to the chassis or engine block, away from the battery.

> knowing that I should begin with the negative cable on the ground
> of the dead vehicle has nothing to do with my experience as a
> technical writer.

    Actually, you SHOULDN'T begin there.  The safe order is:

    1. Positive to the bad car's positive terminal.
    2. Positive to the good car's positive terminal.
    3. Negative to the good car's negative terminal.
    4. Negative to the bad car's engine block, away from the battery.

    It's easiest to understand the reason for this order if you think
    about the final connection first:

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