Flat battery - urgent advice needed!!!

steady__eddie

I see that Lidl are doing some gizmo as from tomorrow for starting cars.
http://www.lidl.co.uk/uk/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20061030.p.Bridging_Cable_for_in_Car_Power_Supply.ar3
To advertise the state of my ignorance in public, the plug end has to be plugged into the donor car hasn't it ? I presume that the only advantage of this would be that you wouldn't have to open the bonnet of the donor car.
From what a previous contributer to this thread has said, would this be any good 'cos it says 10 amps max ?

Tight_Git_3

Be careful when Bump Starting. Unburnt fuel can make it's way out of the engine and into the exhaust.
If you've got a catalitic converter - which most modern cars have, the fuel can wreck it, leaving you with a big repair bill.

Got to agree that thick jump start cables are needed. The cheepo thin ones aren't a lot of use if the battery is very flat.

N9eav

TIP. Go to the local scrap dealer and get a battery. I buy mine for about £10. look at the dates on them and you will usually find one about 0-12 months old and it will last for several years.

bargain_carly

I've been having battery trouble recently. Tried to jump start my new van (not got it off the drive since buying it!) with the boyfs car following haynes manual instructions as neither of us had jump started a vehicle before. There was no mention of having to start the donor batteries engine so we didnt! No wonder it didnt work and all we got were clicks.

I feel really stupid now!

Still will probably get homestart peeps out as dont think my boyf will want to go through all the messing around again!!!

iluvmylexus

be careful and make sure you turn all the electrics on while connecting the leads to both vehicles (fan heater lights everything) to reduce the chances of a spike of current blowing the electrics ..........about a grand on a mondeo or focus if you are unlucky

littledutchboy

Took about 20 minutes connected to the ex-wife's car but got it going. Thanks everyone!:T

steady__eddie

"be careful and make sure you turn all the electrics on while connecting the leads to both vehicles (fan heater lights everything) to reduce the chances of a spike of current blowing the electrics "

A couple of years ago, a friend of a friends next door neighbour asked if he could give him a jump start on his drive (cables over fence) He obliged but in doing so something went dramatically wrong and he b*gg*rr*d some electronic thingy up in his brand new Citroen. No probs. he thought, 3 weeks old, 3 year warranty, BUT, Citroen collected it and diagnosed the fault and told him that he had given someone a jump start and the damage that he had done was not covered by the warranty. It cost him as the previous poster says, over a grand. Don't know if the technology is the same for all vehicles but on the very rare occasions when someone asks me for a jump start, I have to be terribly anti-social and decline. Some people just won't believe me when I tell them why.

david29dpo

This can be very true with some newer cars. Thats progress for you!