Is jump starting safe?
 

When my grampa bought a new Chevy Silverado in 89, the dealer told him that with the new computers and stuff, you can't jump start or you run the risk of frying the computer. Were the early computers more susceptible to surge damage? My car is only 4 years newer than that, and i wonder if it's safe to jump it, or jump other people with it. Is it much safer if you leave the jumper vehicle shut off when starting the dead one?

Alive= OFF/With jumpers on +/- side of battery.

Dead= Turn over/ With +cable on +side of battery. With - cable on alt.

The only thing I know about jumping is if you do it a lot, you obviously shorten the life of your battery, and your has to work harder.

It's ok to do it if someone is in desperate need.

No problem jumping. Both clamps on the battery terminals of the good car.
On the bad car, but the red clamp on the +, then put the black clamp on chassis ground somewhere. This prevents any possible sparks near a battery that may be outgassing.

No Kaboom that way. Had this happen to me in my younger days. Not pretty.

And hook up to the dead battery first, then the good one.

Thanks, Don ;)

And the battery is the squarish thingy behind the light thingy. Usually black.

And has round thingies on the top or sides (usually 2).

ok thanks guys, but i think my jumper cables are defective or something....i mean like the colors and stuff don't match...two of the clamps are red, but two of them are black :bluetwitch: i'm guessing that maybe domestic and export cables are different colors, and they just got their parts bins mixed up. so do you think they'll work anyway? i hope i didn't get gyped

http://content.sears.com/data/produc...312000-dlv.jpg
last I knew they were supposed to have 2 black an 2 red, just make sure that ya remember red = + black = -

i certainly hope you didn't take me seriously

no I'm just playing along with the joke like the others just couldnt think of much of anything funny so I gave up and made it half serious

Zook.....that set you posted only has one red and one black. Is that for a Mitsubishi Eclipse?

lol....while i'm workin on the battery i might as well check my halogen fluid while i'm there

no its for http://www.luxurycarts.com/images/cu...white_side.jpg
or if image dont show image

okay i don't get it....what does a half set of jumper cables have to do with an eclipse?

A Weaklipse is only half a car ;)

And not on the Wiper Motor. Trust me, it's expensive that way :oops:

Trying to jump start the wife's Astro... The plate the wiper motor is mounted to was nice and easy to reach. As soon as she turned the key, tho, all the magic smoke came out of the wiper motor.... :oops:

About 200 bux later, the wipers worked again...

the 'magic smoke'? I thought that was illegal except for medical uses?

:lol:

All electronic devices run on Magic Smoke (not happy smoke. That's a different story...). If the Magic Smoke escapes, electronics stop working. http://www.mos95b.com/Smileys/EduRant.gif I figured you were smart enough to know this.

oh that's good MOS.... It woulda been sweet if the wipers flew out to the furthest position.... :shock:

They worked until I told her to turn the key off, even though they weren't on....

Re: Is jump starting safe?
 

No, but there was probably a lot more FUD back then about it...

It's fine.

No, but it's not a safety issue. The point is that the jumper cables connected to a _running_ car are so the running car can charge the battery of the dead one, which should happen within a couple of minutes or so (that is, deliver enough oomph to get the car started, not necessarily deliver a complete full recharge). The idea of the jumper cables is not to try and draw starting current through the cables from the other car.

After you hook up the running car, you'll probably hear a change in idle speed, noise or pitch as the running car recharges the dead battery. Give it a couple of minutes before trying to start the dead car, and you should be able to do so without melting your jumper cables or even getting them warm.