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Difficulty giving jump starts to cars?

So my Ford Ranger is a 93, 4 cylinder small engine, and quite the trooper. I get the occasional call "Are you busy? Come give me a jump." But lately my jumpstarts haven't been working. I hook up the cables correctly, and my battery is big enough for a 1500 truck. Twice the size of my friends car batteries. Why has it been failing? I've noticed that all my jumpstarts are with problematic old pontiac. Grand-Ams. Is that the reason?

My cables go from my Red to their Red, my Black to their engine block. That's correct, isn't it?

3 Answers

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  • JOHN B
    Lv 6
    8 years ago

    You're hooking up backwards. Black to your engine block or other spot.( I use the top bolt on my alternator on my Ranger). Red to your battery then red and black to battery being jumped.

    This is something I do as protection for my battery. I once jumped a cadillac that had electrical problems in the time of carburetors and distributor caps. Went directly battery to battery and her electrical problems were transferred to my vehicle and my points were melted together. My car never ran right again. Anyone who thumbs me down knows nothing about it.

  • 8 years ago

    Im in highschool and Alot of people have problematic first cars so I've given my share of jump starts over the past couple years, I typically do my red to their red and my black to their black, and that works but I don't know if that's how your supposed to do it, I just know it works that way, if it doesn't work that way try going to autozone and have them recharge your battery, I'm pretty sure they do it for free

  • ken k
    Lv 7
    8 years ago

    go battery to battery/engine ground may be poor and thats why they are getting stuck/if it doesnt work dont keep trying/always have your ignition shut off to prevent alternator damage to your truck

    Source(s): used car dlr nj
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