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Can't get car jumped

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kranky

kranky

Elite Member
Wife's car battery dead, get jumper cables from her car so I can jump it from my car battery.

My car has no negative battery post accessible (battery is under the back seat). In the engine compartment there's a positive terminal only. So I hook positive to positive on both cars, negative to my car frame and to her battery's negative. No results when trying to crank her car. No spark when disconnecting/connecting the postivie terminal again.

Is my problem bad jumper cables or bad connection?
 
Bad connection or cables no doubt... Try another set also the frames of most cars are either coated with rust proofing or painted so its best to find something solid and alum on the engine such as the alternator bracket or other un-painted solid looking metal for the ground...
 
Your owner's manual may give you a recommended place to hook on to the frame for your negative connection. My wife's van has a similar setup with the remote positive terminal to jump it and the manual recommended a particular aluminum part in the engine bay that was much easier to hook a cable on to.
 
Jumpem said:
Just go get a battery charger or portable battery pack/jumper.
Click to expand...

This, or if the battery to be jumped is almost totally flat let the cables stay on for 10-15 minutes before attempting to start. I refuse to use my car to jump anyone because a lot of times they've left the headlights on all day and the battery is almost totally dead, sorry, I'm not gonna pummel my alt., call someone who has a dedicated system (tow company or mechanic) to deal with it..
 
Turned out to be the connection. Had to find another place to attach the negative jumper cable. Thanks for the help, everyone.

The reason for the dead battery was that something is wrong with the interior lights - they aren't turning off. A little googling revealed that is not an unusual problem with a 2004 Jeep, and there's deterioration in the wiring which passes into the driver's door. Will have to get that resolved, but in the meantime she's turned the interior lights off.
 
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