proper jumping starting procedure

when jumping a vehicle - whats the proper placement for the cables?

I was told the following:

Good Car: Place jumper on Positive Post, Negative to lift ring on Engine

Bad Car: Same Procedure

I always thought that you needed to place jumper cables on BOTH positive AND negative terminals of the GOOD car, to the Positive terminal on Bad car, then ground out the negative.

what way is the right way?

i ask because the negative terminal on an '04 Venture is INACCESSABLE

The usual correct procedure is this:
1. Bad battery positive
2. Good battery positive
3. Good battery negative
4. Bad battery metal ground, not the battery terminal.

When a battery is depleted, hydrogen gas may be released. The last connection could cause a spark. Sparks and hydrogen are not a good mix.

I've had to jump start my van a few times. You can usually get decent ground points on the engine side bolts of the dogbones. The hole on the driver's side mount used to pull the engine forward may also work.

good battery negative - how is this acheived? there is no riser post!!! (like the positive side)

When jumping and or changing batterys.
Always hook up neg last and unhook it first.
When the jumper cars alt starts charging more you have a good ground.
MT

good battery negative - how is this acheived? there is no riser post!!! (like the positive side)Ah. I though you were trying to jump a van that had bad battery, not use the van to do the jumping.

Same thing applies though. You can use any solid bare metal in the engine compartment for a ground point.

Hmm I am still having problems trying to jump start my daughter's bronco using your suggestion of just grounding the negative to the metal in my van. :banghead: Finally called some one to jump it and they had no problem...but they were able to get to and use the negative terminal. I need to jump it again but not being able to to get the negative terminal... any other suggestions
Thanks

Make sure the metal you are connecting to is bare. If it's painted, it won't work as well.

Thanks that seems to have done the job.

Thanks that seems to have done the job.