When you jump a car, which one do you ground?

[Kermit]

I know you hook up the positive on car 1, positive on car 2, negative on car 2, and then ground car 1, but I don't remember which one is the live car and which one is dead. And do you turn on the live car after you hook up the cables, or do you have it running the whole time?

DH is still asleep. He got home in the middle of the night after going on a business trip. He left the interior light in his car on all night, and since the light was pretty low when I realized it, I doubt the car will turn on. He probably knows how to do it, but I want to be prepared if he doesn't.

 

[hiwaygal]

Try this info:

http://www.autoeducation.com/faq.htm

 

[mickeyfan2]

The car with the bad battery gets the negative to metal. In many new cars this is no longer a problem. Many give you the places to connect to and they are not the battery leads. This solved the explosion problem. Also some new cars put the battery in the wheelwell (behind a plate) to make theft harder and keep the battery cooler.