There’s no denying that when a website is designed solely to meet college girl’s needs, you can find yourself becoming somewhat of an expert with up-to date knowledge on cutting-edge health and beauty trends. However, in a day and age where women strive toward independence, it’s important that hercampus.com, gives you our own “expert” teachings on how to… (gasp!) jump-start a dead car battery!
HerCampusMSU spent time with a local full service station, Wood’s Okemos Marathon, to learn the ins and outs on how to safely and effectively bring your car back to life. So, whip out a note pad and be sure to stash these handy dandy tips in your glove compartment.
John Wood, owner of Wood’s Okemos Marathon, has worked at the same service station for 41 years and said half of their calls are from girls and a majority of their work is done with students.
“We run anywhere from 40 to 90 calls per day. We’ve been in business 53 years as a full service auto repair facility with service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Our service never shuts down.”
Wood’s Okemos Marathon is located at 2104 Hamilton Road in Okemos and can be reached at 517-349-0730.
The Process:
When your car won’t start and it makes a clicking sound when you try and start the engine, most of the time it’s the battery and you need jumper cables.
1. Find a friend’s working car and have them park close enough for the jumper cablesto reach both batteries. However, the cars cannot be touching.
2. Have your friend turn off their car and pop the hood of both cars and find the box shaped battery.
3. Now it’s time to attach the jumper cables.
“ There’s only one way to do it. You always have to attach positive to positive and negative to negative with the cables,” Wood said. “ There’s no other way, but that way.”
The positive cable is red and should be attached to the part of the battery with a positive sign on it. Now attach the other end of the red positive cable to the other car’s battery where there is a positive sign.
The black-negative jumper cable should be attached to the negative part on the battery of the working car and the opposite end attached to the negative part on the battery of the dead car. However, you can also choose to attach the black negative jumper cable to any metal area inside the hood of the dead car.
WARNING: You can cause damage to both cars if the jumper cables are not attached properly, and that can be costly.
4. Let the cars sit attached by the jumper cables for a couple minutes before having your friend start their car.
5. Now try and start your engine of your car. If your car starts, you can now detach the jumper cables. Be sure to drive your car around 30-45 minutes to charge the battery.
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If Your Car Still Won’t Start
After a few failed attempts call the nearest full service mechanic either through your roadside service like AAA, or the one nearest you.
If you don’t have roadside service, it can cost anywhere from $50-55, according to Wood.
What to Ask the Mechanic
Make sure to ask the mechanic these important questions:
-How long will it take for you to get where I am?
-How much will it cost or does roadside insurance cover me?
-Is this a battery problem or possibly something else?
-Why do you think this happened? Will this happen again?
-Do I need an electrical check to see if it’s time for a new battery?
Need to Know Facts
Jumper cables are sold at car service stations as well as stores like Wal-Mart ranging anywhere from $20-40, according to Wood.
“You can buy really cheap cables or good expensive ones. The expensive ones will last you a whole lot longer and do a lot better job” Wood said.
Safety First Girls
If you’re alone with your dead car, call a family member and let them know where you are even if they are not able to help you. Update them when someone (stranger, friend or mechanic) arrives to help.
“If you’re scared, go to a well lit building and let the mechanic pick you up there and then take you to your car,” Wood said. “Or lock yourself in your car with your cell phone and wait until help arrives.”
Wood and his 21 employees are all certified by the Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) organization and State of Michigan certified to be a mechanic. Wood’s Okemos Marathon also requires employees to train an additional 2-3 weeks.
Nobody plans for that inconvenient time when they find their car broken down in its worse shape since you first inherited it instead of the old beaut that resembled freedom, a spare closet for most and even had its own name (just admit it…Betty is it?) But by following these important tips you can ensure that you will know just what to do if the inevitable happens and your car breaks down, at the very least you’ll have a number stored in your cell phone of someone willing to help you 365 days a year.