Jump Start Service in Sheffield

A jump start is a diagnosis, not just a boost

Anyone can put leads on a battery. The useful part is knowing what the car does next, because that is what tells you whether you have a two minute problem or a new battery, and we would rather tell you the truth than leave you to find out in the morning.

Flat, or finished

A flat battery has run down and will take a charge. A finished battery will not hold one, no matter how long it runs. The give-away is what happens after we disconnect: if it starts, runs, and then will not start again an hour later, the battery is done. Most car batteries last somewhere between four and six years, and cold weather is what finally exposes a tired one. Our guide to what to check before calling out for a flat battery covers the two minutes of checks worth doing first.

When it is not the battery at all

If the car starts on a boost and then dies as soon as the leads come off, the alternator is not charging and the battery has been doing all the work. That is not a jump start problem, it is a recovery job, and driving it home on a dying battery usually means stopping somewhere worse. A slow, laboured crank that gets slower is a battery. A single loud click and nothing is often a starter. No crank at all with the dashboard fully lit is usually neither. There is more in our guide to a car that will not start.

Modern cars are fussier than they used to be

Many cars now have designated jump points under the bonnet rather than accessible battery terminals, and some manufacturers advise against jump leads altogether. Start-stop cars use AGM or EFB batteries that need charging properly rather than being hammered. Hybrids and EVs have an ordinary 12 volt battery that can go flat like any other, and it is that one that gets jumped, never the high voltage system. Tell us the make, model and rough age and we will arrive knowing which of those applies.

The classic Sheffield flat battery

Cars that stand all day in the cold are the ones that will not start at five o'clock. The station car parks, the Halfway tram park and ride, the multi-storeys, and cars left in town overnight after a night out, which we cover in our guide to leaving your car overnight. Short winter journeys are the other cause: a ten minute drive to work and back does not put back what the starter took out, and by February a marginal battery gives up. Winter breakdowns go into why.

What to tell us when you ring

Make, model and roughly how old the car is. What the dashboard does when you turn the key: full lights, dim lights or nothing at all. What the engine does: cranks slowly, clicks once, or is silent. Whether anything was left on overnight. Whether the car is somewhere we can get a vehicle alongside, because a jump start in a tight multi-storey bay sometimes has to become a car park recovery instead.