How to Jumpstart a Car Without Another Car
Jumpstarting your car with the help of jumper cables and another vehicle is pretty common. But what if you’re stranded all by yourself, and don’t have the time to wait for another vehicle to arrive? You’ll have to jumpstart your car without another car – and that is entirely possible. Let’s get the details to jumpstart a car without another car.
How to Jumpstart a Car Without Another Car
To avoid stress when you are alone on the road it’s important to know how to jumpstart a car without another car. Jumpstarting the car on your own saves you from stress and time. Here’s the process to jump-start a car when there is no other car nearby:
Using a Jumpstart Box
If you drive an automatic car you can jump start your automatic car by utilizing a jumpstart box, also known as a battery pack, jump box or jumper box.
These are basically small portable batteries with jumper cables attached to them. The jump box also uses software to prevent any kind of voltage spike that may damage your vehicle’s electrical system.
Follow these steps to jumpstart a car with a jumper box:
- Keep the jump starter box fully charged
- Keep your vehicle in parking mode
- Most of these boxes come with cables, but if that’s not the case, connect your own cables to (positive or negative) spots (positive or negative) on the jump-start box
- Attach the red cable of the jump starter to the positive (+) port of the dead car battery
- Attach the black cable to the negative (-) or ground port
- For proper grounding, attach the black cables to the metal components of the engine’s compartment
- Turn on the jumpstart button (jump boxes come with on and off buttons)
- After one to two minutes, start your car
- If your engine doesn’t start, wait for a few more minutes, give the battery time to charge and then try once more
- If your car starts, that’s great
- Remove the cables in reverse order, black cables from the grounded surface first, red cables from the car battery second
Remember to keep the jumpstart box charged all the time. If it’s not charged, it’s of no use. You never know when your car battery drains out and you will need to jumpstart the battery. In case of such emergencies keep the jump-starter box fully charged.
Push-starting Cars Without Causing Traffic Disruption
If you are driving a manual car and get stuck on the road with no other vehicles in sight, you can still take help from pedestrians or passengers in the car to push start the vehicle. With the push-starting method, the engine gets back to life by force without the help of a battery-powered starter.
Here’s how to jumpstart a car through push-starting:
- Ask other people (passengers or pedestrians) to go behind your car and get ready to push
- Get in the driver’s seat and start the engine
- Press the clutch, shift to second gear and engage the hand brake (you are not recommended to shift to the first gear because that may make your car jerk harshly)
- Press the brake and release the parking brake
- Release the brake and signal your friends to start pushing
- At about 8 to 10 km/h release the clutch
- As the engine engages it may stutter slightly
- If this starts your engine, you’re good to go
- If the engine doesn’t start, repeat the push-starting method but at a higher speed
The push-start method usually gives enough momentum to start a manual car’s engine. That said, make sure that push starting your car does not block the normal flow of traffic in any way or you could be fined for disrupting traffic.
With this guide, you now know how to jumpstart a car without using another car. However, if these methods don’t work, we advise you seek professional help from an auto expert. Moreover, if your car malfunctions because of a problem in other parts, or breakdowns regularly even after regular maintenance, switching to another car would be wise. Following is a list of economical used cars:
- Buy used cars in Dubai
- Buy second-hand cars in Sharjah
- Second-hand cars for sale in Abu Dhabi
- Used cars for sale in Ajman
Stay tuned to UAE’s top auto blog for more on car DIY solutions, car repair tips and much more.