Jumping a 2001 Passat

The B5 -- 1996 through 2004 -- Passat has two hoods. Well, it might as well, for all the plastic covers VW opted to install over the engine and its related components. These covers look snazzy, but they can make something as simple as jumping a battery a frustrating hunt through a plastic jungle. Once you've actually found the battery, jumping it is as simple as jumping any other car's.

Finding the Battery

Pop the hood and locate the rain cover at the edge of the firewall -- you'll find it just below the windshield and next to the firewall. It runs the width of the car and seals to both the bottom of the windshield and to the firewall using a piece of weatherstripping. Start at either edge of the windshield seal, and pry it free with a flathead screwdriver or a fingernail. Carefully peel the weatherstripping away to expose the rear edge of the battery cover.

Connecting the Battery

To get to the battery, pull up on the rear of the plastic battery cover, pulling it up and tilting it toward the front of the car. Once it tilts forward a bit, you should be able to simply pull the cover free and expose the top of the battery. Have your assistant park the jump car nose-to-nose with your Passat, and leave it running. Connect the positive, then negative, jumper leads to the red and black terminals -- respectively -- on your jump car's battery. Make sure that the other ends of the jumper leads aren't touching each other or anything electrically conductive.

Charging

Connect the other end of the positive jumper lead to the positive -- red -- terminal on your Passat's battery. Connect the negative -- black -- lead to the negative terminal on the battery. It's a waiting game at this point; you can help to speed the process by having your assistant hold the jump car's throttle at about 3,000 rpm. You should allow at least a minute's worth of charge time. You're not going to hurt anything by allowing a bit more time for the battery to take a charge, but you may have to start waiting all over again if you drain the battery by attempting to start it too soon.

Finishing and Starting

Make sure that your Passat's headlights are off, get in the car and close the doors to turn the interior lights off. You don't want power going to anything but the starter. Finally, put the key in the ignition and start the car. Once you get it running, disconnect the negative then positive jumper leads from the Passat. Let your car idle for at least 10 minutes to give your car's alternator a chance to charge the battery. The last thing you want is for your ever-welcome helper to drive off while you stall your car on a still-dead battery.