How Do You Jump Start a Semi Truck With a Car?

Jumping a semi-truck can be a daunting task. The process is much more involved than jumping a regular car and requires specialized tools and knowledge. If you ever find yourself in the situation of needing to jump start a semi-truck, here are the steps to properly do it.

Step 1: Make sure both vehicles have their parking brakes engaged and that the transmission of the semi-truck is in neutral.

Step 2: Connect the jumper cables to both vehicles. The red clamp should be connected to the positive terminal on the dead battery of the semi-truck, while the black clamp should be connected to an unpainted metal surface on the engine block of the truck.

Step 3: Connect one end of the jumper cables to a good battery in another vehicle, such as a car. The red clamp should be connected to the positive terminal and black clamp should be connected to negative terminal in this case.

Step 4: Start up the other vehicle and let it run for several minutes, then start up the semi-truck. If it starts up, turn off both vehicles, disconnect all cables in reverse order (starting with black cable from engine block on truck), and let both engines idle until they reach normal operating temperature.

Conclusion:

Jump starting a semi-truck involves connecting jumper cables between two vehicles with different batteries – one that has power and one that does not. After ensuring both vehicles have their brakes engaged, connecting one end of jumper cables from good battery to dead battery on truck, starting up other vehicle first followed by semi-truck, disconnecting all cables in reverse order once started and letting both engines idle until they reach normal temperatures are all necessary steps for successfully jump starting a semi-truck.

Photo of author

James Gardner