Ram CTD jump start question

wilber1 wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
This is what my RAM owners manual says, I have always done it this way for many years.

Jumper cable positive to positive on batteries. Negative cable end on battery of charging/jumping vehicle. Discharged negative cable end to a ground, NOT on the discharged battery.

Makes sense, you would want all the batteries using a common ground. The batteries on my truck died last year and I had to get the auto club to give me a boost. He connected his two booster batteries in parallel then hooked them up to my truck just that way.

And is probably the reason why vehicles get fried when attempting a jump start. I ALWAYS go battery to battery on BOTH vehicles. Never had an issue, and I've jumped newer vehicles than mine without issue. My procedure to jump start another vehicle from mine (see sig):

1) Pull up to dead vehicle, pop hood latch.
2) Set high-idle on engine, set at 1100RPM.
3) Make sure all accessories in both vehicles are switched OFF.
4) Connect whichever battery in my truck is closest to dead vehicle's battery, pos to pos, and neg to neg.
5) Let the setup sit for about 10 minutes. Remember, you have a dead battery, it will literally soak up EVERYTHING coming down those jumper cables!
6) Attempt to start dead vehicle. In most cases, it will crank slowly, but it should start. If not, wait another 10 minutes.
7) Once dead vehicle engine is spinning, immediately disconnect cables.
8) Advise owner of now operating vehicle to not shut it down for at least 30 minutes, and maybe put the battery on a plug-in charger overnight once home.

I have followed this procedure every time, and I have never had a problem. I think most of the problems occur when you attempt engine start as soon as the cables are connected. Bad Idea!!!! That dead battery WILL soak up pretty much all the power coming down the cables. And, I believe that jumper cables are a tenuous connection at best. I've seen jumpers, even heavy duty ones, get very warm very quickly just charging the dead battery. So, if you wait 10 minutes or so, you should put enough charge into the dead battery that it should be able, with a little help from the running vehicle, crank over the engine. It will be a slow crank, but the engine SHOULD start.

Again, I've done this many times, and have over 267,000 Km on the vehicle, with the original alternator still spinning.

Just my $0.02.