The thing about social media is anything can be spread out that could misinform or mislead others. The latest round involves a viral image that says jump-starting certain Proton model will lead to irreparable damages to the Transmission Control Unit (TCU). Proton has issued a statement which vehemently denies this claim, and went on to say that all their cars can be jump started.
In light of that, here’s a quick recap on Car Maintenance 101 on the correct way of jump-starting a car:
- Connect the positive (+) terminal from a healthy battery (assisting car) to the positive terminal of the battery of the affected car. Use the red cable to connect this two terminals.
- The negative (-) terminal from the source must be connected to the body of the affected car. Use the black cable to connect these two ends.
To paint a better picture, refer to the picture provided by Proton below:
Also, please take note on the correct procedure to jump start a car as recommended by Proton:
- Vehicles should be close enough so that the jumper cables can be connected, but be sure that the vehicles aren’t touching each other. If they are, it could cause an undesirable ground connection. It will not be possible to start the vehicle, and the bad grounding could damage the electrical systems (Transmission Control Unit, TCU).
- The assisting vehicle must have a 12-volt battery and the capacity (Ah) of the booster battery should not be significantly lower than that of the discharged battery, this is to avoid damage of circuit shorting both vehicles.
- Only use jumper cables with insulated battery clamps.
- Vehicle must be positioned in “P” (PARK) for automatic transmission and “N” (NEUTRAL) for manual transmission.
- Turn off the ignition on both vehicles beforehand.
- When connecting the booster cable, do not connect the positive (+) cable to the negative (-) terminal or it can cause sparks and battery can explode.
- The negative jumper cable (black) must never be clamped to fuel lines with metal sheath or to the fuel filter or brake lines as this could cause a fire.
- Start the engine in the vehicle, which has the booster battery, let the engine idle for a few minutes and then start the engine in the vehicle with the discharged battery.
- After the engine is started, disconnect the cables in reverse order.
After all, the engineer’s adage of “when in doubt, read the manual” aptly fits this circumstance. Therefore, here’s our parting message: Viral messages aren’t necessarily verified information, so always read the manual!
