How to start the car via cables when your flashlight is dead? The procedure sounds simple, but sometimes things get complicated

Paradoxically, it’s not the cold that destroys batteries. They get the most work in high temperatures, typically in the heat of summer. But the car battery can also be damaged by poorly shielded heat from the engine, which is the reason why more and more manufacturers put the battery outside the hot engine compartment, mostly in the trunk.

When the first frost comes, the weak battery will not have enough energy to turn the frozen engine. Sometimes it’s completely dead, but often it’s enough to ask a neighbor (he’ll be “certainly excited” that you’re knocking on his door at 6:30 in the morning) and start your car with the help of another vehicle. But how to do it?

It’s nice to say, but it’s hard to recognize in the store. Manufacturers hide the cables, and even if at first glance the cables are thick, it is often just insulation with a cover and the diameter of the conductor inside is insufficient. Here, just “google” and find some consumer tests will help.

Modern cars, especially turbodiesels, have a large consumption and really need sufficient current to start. And low-quality cables cannot carry that current. In addition, they can easily overheat and start burning when a higher current is required.

A reliable alternative can be a high-quality booster, i.e. a portable battery with a high capacity that can start even larger engines. A high-quality booster (it costs five thousand) is a bigger investment, which is more likely to be used by car repair shops.

On the other hand, you can rely on a decent booster for 1,000 to 2,500 crowns for home use (if you don’t need to start a diesel twelve-cylinder), and if you keep it in good condition, you don’t have to worry about pulling cables, waking up your neighbor at half past five in the morning, and by looking for a second car. Thanks to the booster, you are completely independent of someone else’s help.

The batteries of cars that drive short distances and then stand still for a long time suffer the most. You typically use your car during the week for short trips to work or the store, only a few kilometers, and you don’t go anywhere during the weekend. The battery is insufficiently charged, especially if you turn on the seat heating and rear window defroster in winter. And once its voltage simply drops below the threshold below which the engine will no longer start.

If you then leave the car parked for a long time (perhaps you don’t drive at all during the winter, or maybe only once a month), usually a completely discharged battery is completely destroyed. In short, you cannot let a modern battery discharge completely and it needs to be kept alive. Therefore, buy a high-quality maintenance charger for cars that have been parked for a long time and leave them connected to it all winter. If you don’t have a garage, take the battery out of the car when it’s warm and leave it connected to the maintenance charger at home.

But sometimes the problem is not only in the battery, but also in the car. If the alternator does not work properly, it is not enough to produce the necessary current while driving and the battery will be discharged immediately. And such a car will go out anyway, because modern cars have a huge current consumption and will not drive more than 30 km even on a fully charged battery. Lights, accessory drives and electrical systems will beat the battery. And without current injection and ignition will not work.

Watch the dashboard. A yellow or red indicator light on the battery does not necessarily mean its bad condition, but above all a problem with recharging. The proper function of the alternator is then revealed by diagnostics if it gives the necessary 13 to 14 V. Skilled mechanics can repair the alternator, but sometimes you need to buy a new one. For example, on a gasoline Octavia 1.4 TSI, the alternator costs around seven thousand, and it is better to replace its belt as well.

Study the car’s owner’s manual so that you know exactly where you have the battery, or the necessary connectors for connecting the cables. Some vehicles are started in such a way that instead of being connected directly to the battery, the cables are connected to the designated “pins”. But otherwise the procedure is always the same.

1) Park the car with which you will start. Let its engine idle and turn off all auxiliary appliances (lights, heated seats, etc.).

2) First, take the plus cable (most often red) and connect it to the positive pole of the discharged car’s battery. 3) Then connect the same cable to the positive pole of the battery of the charged car, with which you start.

4) Then take the minus cable (most often black) and connect it to the negative pole of the charged battery with which you start. 5) Connect the other end of the negative cable to the designated place of the started car. Most often, it is a pin directly stuck out from the engine block or bodywork, it is also marked. Be careful, it will sparkle a little!

6) In this way, leave both cars connected for several minutes, at least five, but preferably even a quarter of an hour if you have time. In the meantime, have a coffee with your neighbor and complain about modern three-cylinder cars that are not what they used to be.

7) When the car is started, try to switch off all appliances first. Do not turn on the lights, radio, ventilation, fog lights… Above all, do not turn on the seat heaters and other large power consumers. 8) Then only try to start.

9) Did the car start and run normally? 10) So now you can start disconnecting the cables in the reverse order. Disconnect the negative grounding, then the negative from the auxiliary battery. Then disconnect the + from the auxiliary battery and only then the + from your accumulator.

If the car does not respond to anything at all (not even to remote unlocking) and the locks and alarms come to life only when the auxiliary battery is connected, the battery is usually completely dead and ordinary low-quality cables will not be enough. Booster should help.

If the car is unlocked and its alarms are on, it just doesn’t want to turn the engine (relays are clicking), the battery is low on power. All you need are cables or a booster and the vehicle will start. When the engine rolls lazily when starting and the instrument panel goes out, it is a signal that the battery is already weak. Beat her!

If the car turns the engine normally, but does not catch, the problem may be somewhere other than the battery. For diesels, it can most often be “frozen” diesel. Modern gasoline engines with direct injection can have shorted spark plugs (carbon deposits on them are soaked in gasoline and the spark does not jump).