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'* 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'* 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 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

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