Can You Jumpstart a Car With a Bad Alternator? (Explained)

A dead battery is a horrific experience for most drivers. Having to jumpstart your car requires time and energy. But then you got a bad alternator. So now, we will talk about having to jumpstart a car with a bad alternator.

So can you jumpstart a car with a bad alternator? Yes, you definitely can! Jumpstarting your car with a bad alternator is the first path you should take when you have a dead battery.

Today, we will be going to talk all about jumpstarting a car with a bad alternator. This is very helpful to all drivers since having a dead battery is an unavoidable situation, and you must be prepared for it. So let’s start.

Can You Jumpstart a Car With a Bad Alternator

How Do You Jump Start a Car With a Bad Alternator?

A bad alternator is even more terrible than having to jumpstart your car because the alternator is the one who keeps your car battery charged. If you have a bad alternator, it will be difficult to jumpstart a car.

However, you can still jumpstart your car even if you have a bad alternator. With these steps, you can be able to jumpstart your car even with a bad alternator. So here it is.

1. Find A Car With A Good Battery

The first element for jumpstarting a car is a good battery. Without a good battery, you cannot perform a jumpstart. If you are trying to jumpstart your car, find someone with a good car battery.

There may be a lot of passersby who can give you the help. But of course, they need to have a good and fully charged car battery. Your dead battery needs a good jolt, so it needs a battery to supply it with the power it needs.

2. You Need To Connect The Jumper Cables

If you have found yourself a Good Samaritan with good and fully charged car batteries, the next thing you have to do is to connect the jumper cables. First, you need to connect the one red clamp to the dead battery through the positive terminal. Find the other red clamp and connect it to the excellent battery through the positive terminal.

Next is finding the one black clamp and connecting it to the good battery through a negative terminal. The other black clamp should also be connected to a metal part unpainted in the car’s engine bay with a dead battery.

3. You Need To Run The Car With A Good Engine For Three To Four Minutes

Before you jumpstart the car, you may need to run the car’s engine with a good battery for three to four minutes. Before you run the engine, the jumper cables must be attached already.

After about three to four minutes, you can now start your car with the dead battery. If there is a little crank, but the vehicle will not start, try again in the next three minutes.

4. You Need To Turn Off The Accessories

You need to ensure that all the accessories are turned off. The accessories include a phone charger, the heating, the radio, the CD player, the air conditioning, the GPS, and everything else. The main point of this is to cut off all accessories taking power from your car battery.

You need the extra energy you can get from your car battery. If this happens at night, your headlights and lights will consume energy as well.

5. Hurriedly Get Yourself To A Mechanic

After you perform the jumpstart and your car has been successfully brought to life, you need to act fast and get yourself to a mechanic. It does not mean that your car starts, that it will remain like that. Get to a mechanic fast before your car battery dies again, and you need to perform the whole activity of jumpstarting your car.

bad car alternator

Is It Bad For a Car to Jumpstart It With a Bad Alternator?

It is not bad to jumpstart a car with a bad alternator. Jumpstarting your car with a bad alternator is the first option you must do. If you have found yourself where you have a dead battery, jumpstarting is the first course you should do. Having a dead battery with a bad alternator will cause you to get stranded somewhere.

You can even get stranded in a remote area, which is more dangerous than jumpstarting your car with a bad alternator. So no, it is not bad to jumpstart your car with a bad alternator.

How Long Will a Battery Last With a Bad Alternator?

There is no single answer to this. Many factors affect the amount of life a car battery can last with a bad alternator. So the amount of time will vary with every car.

The factors that can affect the life of a car battery with a bad alternator are the number of electronics in your car, the engine of your car, the brand of the car and how latest it is, and many more.

Other factors like the accessories, the headlights, and everything that consumes power from your car battery. The condition of the car battery is also a factor.

If you have a car battery that is already old and needs replacing, this can be quickly drained. So the amount of time can be hard to tell because you need to consider a lot of things.

What Are Signs of a Bad Alternator?

There are many indications that you can check if you suspect a bad alternator. The first is if your warning light comes on right away if your car starts quickly. You also have a bad alternator if your headlights are not as bright and dimming when you drive at night.

If you have flickering dashboard lights or speedometer, this is mostly also the fault of a bad alternator. You can easily spot these symptoms. When you do, you need to have your car alternator checked as soon as possible.

The alternator is the one responsible for keeping a good battery charged. If you have a terrible alternator, you will most likely have a bad car battery also.

Summary

In summary, jumpstarting a car with a bad alternator is the first thing to do if you have a dead battery. You can jumpstart a car with a bad alternator.

You need to follow the steps above. If the activity is successful, you need to drive to a mechanic immediately.

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Image credits – Canva

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My name is Hank, and I've been in the automotive industry for 27 years. I've been working in my own auto repair shop for the last 13 years, and now I want to help you here, on my blog. Let me know if you have any questions. Read more