fredmills

Is there a positive post (and ground) under the hood that can be used for jump starting?

eboggs_jkvl

No. Use the battery posts in the rear.

There is a spot to hook a battery maintainer but not for the high amp surge needed to start the car.

Elmer

Richard Ames

Jump Starting - North
America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Owners Manual Shows hooking up cables to the battery in the rear of the car. The hook up for the maintainer is a 12 volt plug above it.

TJC333

I have a gadget for jump starting cars through their cigarette lighters. If I plug it into the outlet about the battery will that do any damage? I assume there is fuse protection.

okaythen

Heard from one guy he said that don't jump start the car, cause C7 got a lot of electronics and you might fry them when you jump start the car, since it's high voltage. Is that right? If it is then I better remember it! don't want to fry nothing!!

I do have the trickle charger that it came with, can you use that to "charge" the battery when it's dead? Or you just need to leave it on when you don't use the car for awhile.

What if you don't know when you will drive the car? I guess battery starts to go after 3,4 weeks or not driving, so plug in trickle charge when you haven't drive the car for 3,4 weeks is that right?

Also heard all the electronics if you want to repair them yourself jsut the diagnostic tool will cost a lot, he recommended extended warranty from GM. Is that right it's hard to repair/maintain it yourself, especially the electronics

sTz

Owner's manual:

eboggs_jkvl

1) Yes you can jump start the car using the direct connections to the battery in the rear.

2) If it came with the car, you have a "Battery maintainer", not a trickle charger. It maintains a charged battery when you let the car sit for extended periods of time. I hook it up every time I pull in the garage to keep the battery topped off.

3) You cannot use the battery maintainer to recharge a dead battery.

4) Diagnostic tools to read the codes can be had for under $50. I have a device called EFILive and it is a code reader AND a tuning tool. I do not tune the car as a tune will void the drive-train warranty immediately.

5) Extended warranty is a good thing to have as most any repair can cost a lot of money. I have one.


Elmer

Bill Dearborn

You don't jump the car with high voltage. You jump a car from another car with a 12V system, a separate battery or a charger that has a built in high current starting option to permit starting the engine using the charger.

Instantaneous cranking amperage can be well over 300 amps (that is why your battery has such a high amp rating) but you need large cables and good connections to get that much current out of 12V, even a little resistance or small contact area (the jaws on a lot of jumper cables have small contact areas) can reduce the current capacity sufficiently that the engine won't start unless the weak battery is charged using the jumper cables for 15 to 20 minutes to build sufficient current capacity between the two vehicles to attempt a start.

If all you did was leave the lights on and discharged the battery you would be able to use jumpers to add some current to your battery and after a few minutes hit the key and there would be enough capacity between the your battery and the other car's battery to start the engine. If your battery has a short there is no way you can build up a charge in your battery and you might damage the charging system of the car being used to provide the jump.

Bill

okaythen

Yeah I meant the battery maintainer the car came with and not trickle charger. The hatch will open a little bit with the maintainer hooked up, I believe the hatch door light will go off after awhile.

You can't use the battery maintainer for another car right? it's c7 specific

Stan0324

The maintainer can be used on all cars.

Grimlock13

It can be used on any car with a 12 volt system, BUT not all cars keep the cigar lighter circuit active with the key off, and some just keep it on for 15 minutes.

Only the rear port in the hatch on the C7 is active all the time for example. You can't use the front one on the console.

The C6 on the other hand both the ashtray and console ports are always on.

okaythen

Ok sometimes I drive the Z all the time, sometimes I get busy and I don't drive it at all, like so far it's been 3 weeks, so I actually never know when to plug in the battery maintainer or not. But for the Z is it about a month until battery is dead? So during the month when do you need to plug in the maintainer for it to work properly? near the end of month I guess not since battery is almost dead, maybe a week, 2 weeks of not driving it ?

And you just leave the battery maintainer in until the next time you drive right? and not just leave it there for 2,3 days.

JerryU

The answer is NO but you might be interested in some history on the subject!

History:
This is what it said on page 1-20 of the 2014 C7 Owner's Manual:
"Jump Starting the Battery
The battery is in the rear of the vehicle. Access to the battery is not necessary for jump starting. There are remote positive (+) and negative (−) terminals under the hood for this purpose. See Jump Starting on page 10-65."

For several months forum posters were defining where those "terminals" were and showed pics (positive on the input of the front fuse box!) However I looked at the size of the wire and it was far smaller than I used in my Street Rod that has it's battery in the far right corner, like the C7! I had used starting current draw and wire length then calculated and used a much large gauge wire! As someone mentioned, starting currents can exceed 300 amps.

I sent a PM to the Chevy Customer Service folks who monitor the forum (much more so in 2013/3014 than now.) I asked: "Is the Owner's Manual correct? I pointed out that the page referenced, 10-65, said nothing about jumping from the engine compartment!" They replied after some time, "Their Sources" said "the manual was correct."

I then asked, if it was then were is the positive terminal location. After several attempts to get an answer I was told "They cannot get an answer from "Their Sources!"

It was finally resolved when that obvious error in the front section of the 2014 Owner's Manual was printed for 2015 and subsequent years. It was removed!

rmorin1249

Incredible! So, jump start using the terminals in the rear is the only safe option?

eboggs_jkvl

YES!


Elmer

JerryU

Yep!

Some earlier Vettes with rear mounted batteries did have a designated positive terminal in the engine compartment with a connection diagram on the front fuse panel cover. They apparently had larger, appropriately sized positive wire. Ground was an engine bolt!

ersatz928

Actually, according to the wiring diagram of the car, the underhood +12V bolt, on the side of the underhood fuse box is a better place to jump the car, as the starter cable connects there, and that cable is only about a foot away from the starter. I think GM changed their mind about the original underhood jump-start terminal because of legal liability....due to the recessed nature of that bolt/terminal, it would be easier for the jumper cable to pop off and potentially short to ground.

vbdenny

the battery maintainer is great, use it always and have juice right next to it in my garage. I did also purchase a solar charger with the cigarette plug which i can lay inside the back and works for outside parking. With the battery location being where it is, I'll have to assume these are externally vented batteries.

Walt White Coupe

This is the most important post so far. It's a hell of lot easier to get to the engine compartment connections rather than the battery in the trunk.

That's how my BMW works.

Can any other "electrical" wizards out there chime in about the wiring just to confirm what ersatz reports??

JerryU

Thanks. Thought, like I wired my Street Rod, there might be a heavier wire connected directly to the starter solenoid and then a short smaller cable going from that connection to the front fuse panel. Looked for the wiring diagram in the 2014 printed Service Manual but could not define if that was the location of the starter positive connection. If a diagram from the printed Service Manual is what you used, what page?

Felt the same about the difficulty of removing the plastic cover. It does not come off easily and as you note the minimum clearance around the threaded bolt could cause jumper cable jaws to hit other grounded parts.

Even the earlier model Z06s with rear mounted batteries the jump starting diagram printed on the fuse box cover stated a positive terminal connection was inside the cover. But even there, suggesting clamping to an engine bolt head for a ground, as that did, is technically OK but not easy and a "shade tree mechanic" approach!