Art161

If you are receiving a jump start, what is a good ground point in the engine compartment for attaching the negative clamp on the jumper cable?

Thanks.

ffk_pennywise

why wouldnt you just attach it to the negative terminal on the battery.

Art161

Because the final connection often causes sparks. The dead battery has probably outgassed quite a bit. The sparks can cause the battery to explode. It usually doesn't, but why take the chance?

ffk_pennywise

Never heard of anyones battery exploding during a jumpstart, thought I dont doubt its happened at some point. I would think as long as your properly ventilated you shouldnt have to worry about it. Arent our batteries sealed anyway?

Norm Peterson

If you'd ever had a battery explode on you, you wouldn't be looking for reasons why they might not.

It wasn't from a jump start, but unless my wife managed to throw it away before I could add it into my "garage wardrobe", I've got a nicely splattered jacket I could take a picture of. Some things you don't forget . . .


Norm

Art161

No, they are not sealed, unless Motorcraft changed the design in the past six months. They have caps on the top that can be removed so you can top up the water level and check the specific gravity. Even the sealed batteries have vents that allow gas to escape under certain circumstances.

ffk_pennywise

Alrighty then. Did not know that. Never pay attention to the battery. Unless its dead or got stuff growing on it that is.

avengence

Just stick it on one of the strut mounts. There is a ground that goes there and they should be touching bare metal. Key is to get something touching bare metal really. Just dont connect it to the battery. I also hear jump starting can hurt the voltage regulator in the alt, but I have only heard that. I have always heard that bump starting the motor can hurt things too.

I would say, charge it if you can and then start it.

Boozshey

If you connect a dead battery that has a bad cell directly to a good battery. The good battery has a chance of getting that same bad cell. It's like a cold for batteries. It's bad. So usually one car will have both pas and neg cable on battery and the other car pos on battery and the other grounded someplace else.

I usually try the strut first though.

JDWalton

What Norm said about the spark igniting fumes from a venting battery is a real and serious risk.

But this statment here just does not make any sense, unless the ground from the battery is bad anyway, a dead battery would apply a equal drain across the rest of the system, as it is directly connected.
Sorry for the hack job on this picture, but you get the idea.


I would try one of the posts on the back end of one of the screws that holds the intake manifold down. Unpainted, untreaded surface grounding directly to the block.