2019 Ford Focus - Can I jump start this car

Can my vehicle with a flat battery be restarted with normal jumper leads?

Well this is 4 hours old now but I would not jump car to car anymore . Just call a roadside service or if this was a new vehicle to you then you may have 5 years of roadside service through Ford . The number is in your manual .

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Yes it can… If don’t correctly. Do NOT mixup the cables! Positive to positive negative from the jumper to bare metal your Ford’s engine.

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Yes it can. Follow Mustangman’s guidance.

I’ve learned to also wear glasses.
Years ago I foolishly did not follow the above steps, and a spark from the cable connection occurred at the battery post. Boom! I was showered with acid.

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Note that a battery jump starter is the safer way to do this these days, as otherwise there is a small risk of some kind of damage to the donor car.

How did a battery this new end up dead, by the way?

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if this is the original battery, its about 4 years old at this point. Depending on where this person lives, that could be the end of the usable life of this battery.

or lights may have been left on, lol :smiley:

Yeah, if a battery of mine is 4+ years old and at all questionable, I feel OK about buying a new one.

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+1
After about 3.5 years, I start making periodic visits to AutoZone or Advance Auto for a free battery check. At the first sign of weakness, I just spring for a new battery.

Is this a standard car or a hybrid?

I finally bought a tester that gives me cold cranking amps. I’ll test the cars at least twice a year or if they have been sitting. Since I have the readings since the battery is new, when the cca starts getting below the rated, I just replace the thing. Usually 3-4 years so about $25 a year per battery. A dead battery on the road is no fun.

+1
Additionally, I wonder if the folks who get stranded because of old batteries think that they are actually saving money by driving until the battery is dead. Road service/towing is rarely quick, and can be expensive, and hours of lost time also amount to a “cost”… at least in my book.

I bought my 2012 Camry in Nov. 2011. No idea when the battery was made. At this point I am just curious as to how long it will last.

Your car can be jumped but if the battery is truly dead, it may take a half hour of running the car you are jumping from to get it started,depending how wimpy your jumper cables are.

Always make the last connection the ground cable to the jumped car to a spot on the engine as far away from the battery as your cables allow.

I would not jump start any vehicle anymore. Have it towed home (if it’s not already at home), pull the battery, put it on a charger, and see if it charges up. I prefer to use a 1-amp trickle charger to recharge a dead battery, but this requires a lot of patience since it will take 2-3 days if the battery was completely discharged.

I actually just did this on my truck…hadn’t needed to drive it since April, needed it a couple weeks ago, battery was completely flat. It took 3 days for the trickle charger to fully charge the battery, but it charged up. Time will tell if the battery has been ruined from getting all the way down.

Yes, it is probably possible on your car. No, I wouldn’t do that myself. Better to remove battery and charge it overnight with a battery charger. Reinstall, should be good to go. Jump starting causes the two car’s charging systems to fight with each other, can cause over-currents, damage alternator diodes etc. Unless emergency situation, jump starting best avoided. Even more so on newer cars like yours.

Yes.

You can jump start the vehicle.

But be warned.

Doing so with a completely discharged battery may damage the alternator.

Tester

After 4 days the person may have solved their battery problem .

This common practice is not as easy as it used to be. In my car (A) it has two batteries . One normal one and a second one for the stupid stop/start system , The real issue here is that these are buried underneath the front passenger seat and are a PIA to get to . Also if you have to change the main battery you have to pull out the Aux battery first . The only plus to this is that the battery will probably last noticeably longer because it is not subject to the harsh underhood temps . Probably at 6 years or so I will have it changed and maybw the Aux too . If you need to jump then follow owners manual specifically . On mine because the battery is under the front seat they have two very well marked jump points under the hood .

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If the battery is all the way bad and won’t hold a charge, you have to use jumper cables and not booster cables. Booster cables are too thin and won’t provide enough current to jump start a vehicle reliably without some help from the battery in the car being jumped. Booster cables might start a 4 cylinder in the summer. Two booster cables can be paralled together though. Also, the engine in the helping car doesn’t have to be running if you’re using jumper cables. When the advertise 8 AWG booster cables they’re usually copper clad aluminum so they are equivalent to 10 AWG copper.

What’s this about not jump starting a modern car? Have the electronics become that much more fragile or something?

Booster/jumper cables are the same thing.

Tester

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Yes, electronic systems are much more fragile.

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Where have you been ? I thought you knew everything.

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