Jump starting - which manual is correct?

[wild1poet2]

I checked my manual and it actually says to leave the donor car running. I have an '04 so maybe the protocol is different depending on the year.

Also, when I jumped my car today I attached the negative cable to the chassis for ground. Didn't work. So I adjusted the connections, still no good. I gave up and just went old school and attached directly to the negative terminal on the donor car. Started right up. LOL

Thankfully I didn't need a tow and I didn't need to jump the fuse box to open the trunk. I got it to the stealer and asked them to do a load test on the battery and check the charging system for me. Hopefully its just a bad battery. But boy it went bad in a snap. It happened to me once years ago on my harley when a 4 month old battery went bad. Like all of a sudden bad. So I guess it happens. LOL

[racer_d]

I think its hard to find a true ground near the boxster battery (just theorizing as i haven't really inspected the battery area) because of the cars high aluminum content. You need a nice "real metal" ground, or the negative pole of the battery.

I've never started a "dead" car without the donor car running and providing a charge to the dead battery. Usually let the donor car run a few minutes before trying to start the dead car.

How old is the battery that died? Do you know why it died? How was the "water" level in the dead battery? Given age and climate and use, it might be time to get a new battery. You'll know for sure that first cold fall morning when the battery is dead again

[wild1poet2]

racer d ....I did end up needing a new battery.

My car is an '04 which I bought as a "leftover" in late '05 when the new '06's were coming in, and the dealership wanted to move it off the lot. Hence, I bet the battery probably discharged while sitting there all that time waiting for me to come along. I keep it on a battery tender during the winter.

Anyway, I jumped the battery and took it to the dealer to be load tested and to have my charging system checked out since I wasn't sure what killed the battery. I did not remove the battery so as to preserve the trouble codes.

They took my car right in and withing a few hours it was all set to go with everything reset. But the $311 charge really shocked me!! That is the most expensive battery replacement I have ever incurred. LOL

[vipola]

Actually, this thread is curious, Jump Start for me means give a push to the car or bike to force the engine to turn instead of using the Starter. It's not often used with car but common with motorcycle.

This this is more about 'boosting' a car..

[wild1poet2]

just different lingo. around here "boosting" a car means to steal a car... LOL
....although I have heard jumper cables referred to as booster cables

pushing a bike to start it, is called "push start"... same with car

when I first went to England I was intrigued with ; windscreen, boot, roundabout, bonnet, car park, lorry and petrol. Many more like queue and "a rubber"... LOL