Jump-start your car -- Newsday.com

Have the good car pull up as close as possible to the bad car, being sure to leave at least 18 inches in between them. You never want the two cars to touch because it could damage the electrical systems in both cars. Both cars should be placed in park (or neutral if they have a manual transmission) with parking brakes engaged and radios and lights turned off. Both engines should be turned off now and the hoods popped open. Put on safety goggles to protect your eyes, but be sure to shield your entire face as well.

Making the Right Connection

Take a look at both batteries to find the positive and negative terminals located on the top of the batteries. The positive terminal will be marked with a + sign, and the negative terminal will be marked with a - sign. If you don't see any terminals, don't panic. Some batteries have plastic caps that cover the terminals to protect them against corrosion. Just don't assume that the caps were put on correctly and that the positive and negative markings on them correspond to the markings on the battery. The only markings you should care about are the ones imprinted on the battery. If there are caps covering the terminals, pry them off with your fingers. They should pop off easily. Make sure that the jumper cables are not near any belts, fans, or moving parts. Also make sure that the jumper cable ends are not touching one another.

Take one of the red cables (positive/+) -- it doesn't matter which one -- and connect it onto the positive terminal of the bad car. Now take the other red cable (positive/+) and connect it onto the positive terminal of the good car.

Next, take one of the black cables (negative/-) and connect it onto the negative terminal of the good car. Now, here's the part you may not understand at first. Take the other black cable and clamp it onto an unpainted metal part of the bad car, such as the engine block on the side away from the battery. Some cars have a designated place to attach the last negative cable and will have the word GROUND and an arrow imprinted next to it.

Whatever you do, do not connect the last cable to the battery. If you connect every cable to a terminal, the circuit of electricity will be complete. If that happens, a spark may occur near the battery and ignite the vapor coming from the battery, which may cause the battery to explode.

Both drivers need to get into their cars, but the motors should not be started until no one is standing near the engines. Have the motorist of the good car start the engine and let the engine idle for 2 minutes, but don't rev it.

If Your Car Starts

Now turn the ignition in the bad car. If the engine starts, don't turn it off. It's okay to remove the jumper cables from both cars now. Now drive the car, with a friend following, to a battery shop or your mechanic.

If Your Car Doesn't Start

If, however, the bad car did not start, turn off the good car's engine and make sure that the cables are securely attached on the bad car. If one fell off, hook it back on and try again, repeating the steps above. If the engine still has not started after several attempts, then it's time to stop and call a towing service.

Reprinted with permission from "Dare to Repair Your Car: A Do-It-Herself Guide to Maintenance, Safety, Minor Fix-its, and Talking Shop," by Julie Sussman and Stephanie Glakas-Tenet (Collins/$14.95). Sussman and Glakas-Tenet are also authors of the national bestseller "Dare to Repair: A Do-it-Herself Guide to Fixing (Almost) Anything in the Home" and "Dare to Repair Plumbing." For more information, go to www.daretorepair.com.