I have heard for many years, that if you get a flat battery, you should not jump start your car.

This "Myth" or fact came about about the time that fuel injection commenced.

I am not sure if this is actually a fact or some myth?

Anyone point me to a source that can definitively answer this question?

its incase a surge occurs - in an old carburetted car or in a traditional diesel there aint much that can be hurt by a surge - in new style cars with efi (electronic fuel injection) these units (and cd players, amplifiers, sat nav systems etc) can be damaged.

There are methods for jump starting a car that are safe - efi or not

one is to use leads with built in surge protectors - u will see this on cheap leads, dont assume it will work - expect to pay 50-100 for a decent set

another is to hook the leads up to the flat and boosting car as you normally would, and then let the other car rev (around 1600 should do it) for some time 5-10 min perhaps more. then remove the leads and try and start the flat car



in an emergency situation, or on an old bomb of a car just use normal leads, it aint every time that stuff blows up - its just a chance that car companies warn you about for warantee reasons

sean

I've heard you shouldn't jump start a car if the acid solution in the battery is frozen. If it's frozen the battery will explode.