What happens if your car battery dies? Let me paint a picture here;

Imagine a cold, dark chilly night, you’re out driving, and all of a sudden your car breaks down. To make matters worse, you’re in the car with an old schoolmate you met earlier today. 

Both of you had dinner, and you offered to ride the friend back home safely. But now you’ve got yourself and your friend stranded in the middle of nowhere, and your car just won’t start 😰.

What to do if your car battery dies

Somewhere in the back of your mind, It slowly starts to feel like your “jinx day” has finally caught up with you. After a few shots at forcing the car to start… nothing happens!

You even tried jumpstarting the vehicle and battery, but it just won’t work 🤯.

You start panicking, cause it’s gotten real late, and you find yourself stuck in an unfamiliar neighborhood, with a friend. That’s when you start asking yourself questions like;

What do I do if my car battery is dead?
– Perhaps the engine’s overheated?
– What if it’s an electrical fault with the car?
– What to do if your car battery dies

Then your mind just goes all blank, yelling and screaming 😱 within;

– help, I think my car battery is dead
– My car battery just died, what do I do?

This scenario might sound like utter fiction, straight out of a Hollywood sci-fi, but statistics show that car battery is the world’s most recycled product.

Out of about 300 million vehicles circulating in the U.S roughly, 100 million car batteries are replaced each year.

If you ever find yourself in such a situation, then breathe easy cause the good folks at JJH™ got your back… 👨‍🔧

In this article, we’ll provide, actionable tips and pointers on what you can do when your car doesn’t start due to a dead battery.

What Do You Do If Your Car Battery Dies?

The first thing you need to check is whether the car’s power supply has been switched off.

Next, try turning on the lights and other electrical items such as your windshield wipers, etc.

If this works, then you know that the battery is dead. If it doesn’t work, open the hood and see whether there is a switch for switching off the power supply to all accessories.

what to do when your car battery is dead | what do i do if my car battery is dead

Now that you’ve done the check and know for sure that your car battery has a fault, 🧐

What to do when the battery in your car dies?

First things first,

  • Check to see if the faulty battery is fully discharged or not. You may need to recharge it with a car battery charger that connects to the mains.
  • However, if the battery has completely dried, the next step would be to jump-start the car.

Equipment Needed To Jump-Start The Car

  • A donor vehicle
  • A set of jump leads
  • A power pack in case of no donor car

How To JumpStart Your Dead Car Battery

With regards to how you can jump-start your car with a faulty battery, it would be ideal to use another vehicle (donor vehicle). However, sometimes, when there are no other vehicles available, you would need to buy or rent an external power charger that will allow you to jump-start your car.

what to do if your car battery dies | what do i do if my car battery is dead
  • First, switch off all the car accessories.
    – If the battery operates your car’s electrical systems, it will be better to disconnect them.

    – You want to provide enough power for your car but not too much that the current may damage your electronic components while at the same time preventing any sparks from flying while handling jumper cables.
  • Next up, prepare your donor vehicle;
    – Make sure you switch off the engine, engage the parking brake and take out any extra accessories like cellular phones or music systems.

    – Leave these items in the cabin of the donor vehicle rather than taking them with you all over the place where they may fall off or get misplaced.
  • Next, move the donor vehicle close enough so that you can attach jumper cables to both batteries easily while still maintaining a safe distance.
    – If the cars are too far away, connecting and disconnecting cables properly without moving around too much will be difficult.
  • Then you have to connect the jumper cables.
    – One end of the positive (+) red cable attaches to the positive terminal of your dead car battery, while the other end connects to the positive terminal on the donor car’s battery.

    – Attach one end of the black negative (-) cable to your car’s negative terminal, which is grounded or metal-to-metal, then attach the last end of this cable to a bare metal on the donor car’s engine, which is also grounded.

    – Lastly, attach one end of another positive red cable to the positive terminal of your car’s battery and connect the other end to a piece of metal that is part of or close to the donor car, such as its negative terminal (minus sign) or another body-to-engine ground.

What To Do After You Jumpstart Your Dead Car battery?

Be sure to twitch off the accessories of the donor car before trying to start your vehicle.

You can also try starting it up using your key. If it works, make sure that all components of the donor car are switched off again before disconnecting cables in reverse order.

How Long Will It Take To Jumpstart Your Dead Car Battery?

The length of time it takes to jumpstart your car battery varies depending on numerous factors such as;

  • The severity of the battery or overall car damage.
  • The engine size, and how much fuel was in your gas tank.
    – For example, if you don’t have any power stored in the battery at all, it is sure that it will take at least five minutes or longer for your battery to get a full charge. On the other hand, if it is only low, you might see some results after a few minutes or more of jumpstarting.

If you try jumpstarting the car battery and the vehicle still doesn’t start, then it is possible that there may be an underlying car defect, beyond the faulty battery.

Here are some common underlying reasons why a car isn’t working. They include but are not limited to:

  • A bad ignition switch may be preventing it from turning on or off properly.
  • A faulty starter, where the motor starts fine but is unable to disengage the ignition switch fully.
  • A dead battery may also cause the above-mentioned defect when starting a car that has never had a jumpstart before.
  • An alternator may have been damaged through heat buildup due to battery overcharge.
  • A bad connection between the engine and the battery may indicate corrosion in the negative terminal.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

ERROR: Sorry, human verification failed.