Automatic cars are becoming pretty abundant as we move forward in time and why wouldn’t they? They are easy to drive, which in turn makes the experience of driving the vehicle fun and wholesome. Conversely, it is not really a fun experience when an automatic car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. There is a big difference between the mechanism of automatic cars and manual transmission cars, this makes it harder to handle in case of a breakdown.

Coming back to the real question, can you jumpstart an automatic car without another car? There is not a definite answer to this question but there are surely some ways in which you can try to start your dead-car in the middle of nowhere.

The causes

If we had to count the issues car owners or motorists have with their vehicles, the most frequent problem would likely be a dead battery. You turn on the ignition but it just doesn’t respond. I am sure we all have been smacked with this problem once in our lives. This clearly indicates that the battery in the car has a problem.

There are other factors like broken cable connections or shortage of gas or something like a malfunctioned fuel pump which can cause a battery to go dead. Normally, a driver would just jumpstart their car using another car’s battery but what if you were in the middle of nowhere, and this happened to you?

Well, you might be inclined to think that your life was just about to turn into a horror movie, but no matter how exciting that prospect sounds, it wouldn’t be so bad if you just tried a few things before jumping into the Hollywood plot you had been waiting for so long in your life!

Push Start or Jump Start?

Well, this method typically works for manual shift cars and not automatic cars but you can always try this yourself if the drivetrain in your car allows you to do that.

In this method, you will have to push the vehicle until it gains some momentum. Set the keys in position, when the car is in motion, you will have to release the foot and hand brake and then step on the gas sensibly to put the car in drive.

Once it’s done, you’ll have to fire the ignition and carefully use the gas to recharge the battery and your problem will be solved. I wouldn’t hand out recommendations of push-starting an automatic vehicle because it is hard to fathom how fast the car will go and it might end up damaging the breaks which you would surely want to avoid. But when push comes to shove and quite literally, there’s really very little that you can do.

Jump Box

Jump Box can be described as a secondary battery which helps us start the car even when the main battery is dead. It’s sort of a backup which you can use to jumpstart your car.

It is surely better than the pushing option which was mentioned above. People normally don’t resort to buying a jump box and rather incline towards buying a new battery when the first one gives in but using this option surely shows us a new way to get out of the fix. Handy enough!

Using Jump Starter Cables

This is one of the most efficient methods of getting yourself out of the fix you landed yourself in or will land yourself in. Jump starter cable packs can act as awesome emergency kits. When there are no other options left, these are the ones you can trust. These are the steps through which you can jumpstart your vehicle:

• There should be charged starter packs inside the hood of your car. If the starter packs are not charged, they are of no use and you’ll have to resort to taking help from outside sources which totally negates the point of this article so better be safe than sorry.
• Keep the car in the parking mode and get the starter pack.
• Locate the positive port of the battery. In case you cannot find the positive port, check the user manual.
• Out of the cables, attach the red cable to the positive portion of the battery you just located.
• There will also be a negative end to the battery to which you will attach the back cable of the starter pack.
• Attach the black cable to the metal components of the engine to ensure better grounding.
• There will be options of on and off switches in the starter pack.
• Put them on.
• Start the car.
• Keep the engine on.
• Put the starter pack off.
• Detach the black cable followed by the red cable.

The most important aspect of this part is to keep charged starter packs in your car otherwise they are never going to be of any to use and you will most likely have to call for some external help or rather start the horror movie you had been thinking of.

Final Thoughts

Yes, it is fun to drive an automatic, it sure does seem to be the future so if you are an automatic car owner, be prepared. I hope you did read this article before facing a breakdown in the middle of nowhere and even if you didn’t, I am hoping that the points mentioned above would help you get out of the fix!

Some small precautions can really help a lot along the way and it will make your life much easier, that’s something you will find with your experience with automatics.