Jump starting a positive ground BJ8

[peteatgr]

I've had my 3000 for over 42 years and it has faithfully never failed to start in over 50,000 miles of driving. (I've probably just jinxed myself and the car.) But I'm taking a short trip up to VIR for the classic races this weekend and while preparing the car noticed my never used jumper cables in the trunk. It dawned on me that I had never really thought about the proper cable connection needed to jump a positive ground car from a negative ground car. If the car ever does fail to start and needs a jump, it's unlikely that another positive ground AH will happen to motor by so I'll have to deal with a standard negative ground electrical system to get a jump. Any cautions or advice would be greatly appreciated. Have several AH manuals but can't seem to find this subject addressed anywhere.

 

[CaptRandy]

Do not let the cars touch, then positive to positive is proper way.

 

[bob hughes]

I am with Randy, it is just a matter of connecting the correct terminals to each other.

I have never given it a thought, but what would happen if a negative ground car and a positive ground car just touched, say in a car park? I expect sparks would fly and not just between the drivers. I suppose it could only happen with older cars as modern cars have plastic bumpers these days.



Bob

 

[Roger]

I am with Randy, it is just a matter of connecting the correct terminals to each other.

I have never given it a thought, but what would happen if a negative ground car and a positive ground car just touched, say in a car park? I expect sparks would fly and not just between the drivers. I suppose it could only happen with older cars as modern cars have plastic bumpers these days.



Bob

No sparks. It would be just like connecting two batteries in series. You'd only get sparks if you then connected a non-grounded live part of one car to a non-grounded live part of the other, like the two non-ground battery terminals.

 

[CaptRandy]

Roger's correct, no problem.