So after I got into a very minor accident, my hood won’t quite shut completely, it hangs open about a quarter inch. Apparently some enterprising piece of shit saw this as an opportunity to slip a screwdriver under there or something and pop my hood and steal my battery. It’s just gone.
I thought I just needed a jump, so I called the roadside assistance guy, at which point we discovered the missing battery. But he offered to jump me anyway by directly connecting the cables to the terminals the battery would hook into, so I could run it off the alternator and drive to an auto parts shop. Except when he did that, and I turned the key, nothing happened.
So, first question, would jumping directly onto the terminals like that work? The fact that it didn’t work, does that mean whoever stole my battery damaged the rest of the car in some way?
And secondly, how do I figure out what kind of battery I need? It’s a 2002 Pontiac Grand Am. I don’t know if batteries come in different sizes, or just different capacities, or what. I have no idea how to battery shop. I see cheaper stuff for $60 but I have no idea if it’s adequate for my needs. I don’t need anything fancy, it isn’t going to be exposed to the cold very much and I’d like to get by with something cheap if it’s adequate. Also, do batteries come with a charge, or would I have to go to an auto shop, buy and install the battery, and then get another jump to get things going?
First, the theory is correct (though I would take insane steps to protect the positive wire from accidentally grounding out in the engine compartment as I drove). It is likely the connection between the jumper cables and your car was not sufficient to allow the number of amps needed for a direct jump.
Much of the time a jump start includes a few minutes for the good battery to briefly upcharge your bad battery, then the combined small charge in your near dead battery and the jumper cables is what gets your car started.
So in short it takes a very good jumper cable connection to do a full start like you describe.
For the second part of your question, yes brand new batteries have plenty of charge to start your car without needing a jump start. Go buy one and drop it straight in, you will be fine. As to the type or model of battery, simply inform the employee of the make & model of your car and they will tell you what selection of batteries they offer that are the right size and configuration, of various qualities.
Any auto shop would be able to look it up for you and offer you 2-3 different batteries at different prices. Or you can look up for yourself at like the Advance Auto Parts site. If you go to their Battery category page, a popup asks you to give details on your car.
They come charged. You can take a bus or a cab to the store and come home and put it in yourself and have a running car in 10 minutes.
Ah, I didn’t even think about that, but I wasn’t watching closely. What if the positive terminal became grounded? Would it do permanent damage to something?
there probably wasn’t enough amperage flowing from the clamps to the terminals to turn the starter. Just not enough surface area.
If you had an old MG or Triumph, it would run fine without the battery. Alas, newer cars need the battery to run the computer and electronics. You would damage the car by trying to run it sans battery.
Go to any major auto parts store and they’ll know just the battery you’ll need. Don’t skimp, especially in winter. You need adequate power. The battery will come charged, and they’ll install it for free.
Fix your hood or chain it closed with a lock. Otherwise, you’ll be buying a battery every other day.
Alright, thanks for the info. Looks like I need a size 75 battery with 650 cold crank amps, if those are the relevant numbers as I understand them. I’ll just go grab something at autozone or a walmart or something. Looks like the cheapest battery I can get is in the $120 range. Does that sound right?
Is it easy to install it yourself? Drop it in, strap it in, connect the terminals?
That’s a pretty average price for a decent battery. And yes, installing is a snap. There may be some battery restraint clamp or some such thing that helps keep the battery from sliding around on it’s stand, but not all cars have them and if your battery was stolen there’s a chance the thief broke it, made off with it or lost it.
But yeah, place the battery on it’s mounting plate with the battery terminals positioned in such a way as they will match the positive and negative cables and hook them up securely and you should be fine.
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You DO NOT want to do this. This is called running in ‘open circuit’ and car charging systems are not designed to work this way. The alternator constantly needs a battery to act as a storage pool for the energy it generates else you will burn out various circuits/diodes in the alternator and ruin it. You need a spare battery to run it with (even a weak, worn out one)…
Very old cars with very simple electrical systems (typically, those with a generator instead of an alternator) can run without a battery. Some cars with an alternator can run without a battery though the wildly varying voltage from just the alternator alone will make them run poorly. Alternators put out alternating current, which gets rectified and filtered into DC. Most cars rely on the battery to do the bulk of the voltage regulation and filtering. Without the battery in place the voltage swings wildly. It’s difficult enough for old, simple ignition systems to run under these conditions. Modern car electronics usually won’t function at all.
You’re probably kinda lucky that the jump wasn’t able to provide enough current to jump the starter. The wildly swinging voltage could damage the electronics in a modern car.
You know the physical size of the battery and the current required in cranking amps. You also need to know the orientation and type of the battery terminals (screw-in vs. clamp on type, which side is positive and negative). Most auto parts stores can look up which type you need based on the model car. Installation is simple. The battery gets held down by a battery holder, which is usually just a straight bar with two hooks on either side. The hooks go into holes in the battery holder base, and you just tighten them down until the battery is held firmly in place. Don’t forget the battery holder when you buy the battery. The electrical connections either clamp on (in which case you just tighten the screws on the clamp) or they screw in. Both types are simple. If the thieves cut the connectors off for some reason you’ll need to replace those.
I think maybe the guy who came out for the roadside assistance had to jump me to get his commission or something, because I didn’t ask for the jump, he almost insisted on it. Good thing it didn’t work then.
Make sure the battery thief didn’t take the clamp(s) that hold the battery on the box (battery shelf).
One end or side of the battery might have a protrusion that slides under a lip on the battery box. The other end probably has a clamp that tightens down on the battery protrusion at the other end.
Make damn sure you connect the negative cable to the negative post, and positive to positive.
Do not screw this up!
Get the cables backwards and you will be sorry.
Another useful thing-- last time oft wears hat’s car battery died, he was able to take it in to the auto parts store for recycling, and the store gave him a credit to apply to the new battery.
I would not expect any car made this side of the 1970s to run without a battery, not even a diesel which doesn’t need it for sparks, but certainly does for the engine management.
The Op will also have to hunt down the code for his radio.