Acura: How to Jump Start Battery

This article applies to the Acura TL, TSX, MDX, and RDX.

If you have a good battery in your car, but have done the unthinkable and repeatedly left something turned on, you probably will be faced with a dead battery after awhile. If your battery has recently been changed, a jump should be all that is needed to get you back on your feet. If you have no idea when the last time it was changed, or know that it is pretty old, a jump may get you going, but you should really go straight to the auto parts store to get a replacement right away.

At some point, a jump will no longer work. Jump starting your car is really a simple proposition that will only take a matter of minutes. In fact, the most difficult part of this task may be finding a willing donor. It is always a good idea to carry around a set of jumper cables in your trunk for such an emergency. Others are more willing to help out if all they have to do is pull up next to you and pop their hood. Please don't spend a lot of money calling a tow truck to come out and charge you for what should be completely free, unless there is no one else around and you have no other choice. If you have found a willing person to help out, read on to learn how to jump your car properly.

Step 1 – Find a donor vehicle

Find someone willing to give you a jump and get the front end of their car as close to the front end of yours as possible. While this may sound simple, it isn't always easy. There always seems to be something that causes us to have our cables stretched as far as possible, making life that much more difficult. With the cars nose-to-nose, lift both hoods and make sure the donor car is not running. Locate your battery at the front-right corner of your engine bay.

Step 2 – Remove battery cover and make your connections

Most Acuras have their battery hidden under a cover on the right hand side of the engine bay. This cover pulls right up and off with no tools needed. Set it aside. If the donor vehicle has a battery cover, have the owner remove it as well. When working with the jumper cables, the black is negative and the red is positive, just as the terminals are inside your engine bay connected to your battery. Start with your dead battery first:

• Attach the positive jumper cable to the positive post of the dead (Acura) battery.
• Attach the other end of the positive jumper cable to the positive post of the donor battery.
• Attach the black, negative cable to the negative post of the donor battery.
• Attach the other end of the negative cable to either the negative post of the dead battery or a bare metal ground on the Acura's frame.

Step 3 – Start your engines

Get in your car and make sure all doors are closed and the radio and lights are off. Anything that draws power from your battery needs to be turned off. Have the owner of the donor vehicle start their car up. Let that car run for awhile before starting your Acura. After a few minutes, start your car. If it doesn't start, turn the key back to off, make sure everything is turned off, and let it sit again for a couple more minutes. If it still won't start, you may have a completely dead battery that needs to be replaced or has some other electrical problem. It is most likely just a bad battery that needs to be replaced. If the car starts up, let it run idle for about five minutes as you disconnect the jumpers in the reverse order that you connected them. Replace the battery cover and drop your hood. Consider driving to an auto parts store to have your battery tested if there is any question as to its condition.

Related Discussions

• Car Does Not Start Up Sometimes - AcuraZine.com
• Battery Drain - AcuraZine.com
• Absolutely Dead - AcuraZine.com
• Radio Won't Power On After Jump Start (Not Asking for Code) - AcuraZine.com
• Car Won't Start. Just Hear Clicking Noise When I Turn the Key - AcuraZine.com