190 Checking and filling
Working on the battery
Be especially careful when working on or near
the battery!
Fig . 14 3 Luggage compartment: AGM battery
The battery is loca ted in the luggage compart
ment.
~ Swing up the luggage compartment floor.
The positive( +) battery terminal is p rotected
by a plast ic cover . This cover must be removed
to access the positive( +) termina l when con
necting jumper cables to start the eng ine .
Always heed the
safe ty war nings, when work
ing on the vehicle battery or the vehicle elec
tr ica l system to prevent injury .
The following WARN INGS are ver y
import ant when w orking on the battery:
Alw ays heed t he follow ing W ARNING SYM ·
BOLS a nd safety precautions wh en working
on th e bat tery.
® Always wear eye protection .
I).. Battery acid contain s sulfuric acid. Al
~ ways wear gl oves a nd e ye prot ecti on.
I/£ No
\l:!S' -spar ks
• flames
- smoking.
When a batter y is ch arged , it pr odu ce s
h y d rogen g as which i s ex plosi ve and
could cau se personal injury.
----Always keep the battery well out of
re ach of children .
®
.&_ WARNING
Whenever working on the battery or on
the elect rical system, there is the risk of
i njury, accident and even fire. Read and
heed the fo llowing WARNINGS:
-Always wear eye protection. Do not let battery ac id or any lead particles get on
your skin o r clothing. Shield your eyes.
E xp losive gases can cause blindness or
o ther inju ry.
- Ba ttery acid conta ins sulfuric acid. Sulfu
ric acid can ca use blindness and severe
burns .
- Always wear gloves and eye protection.
Do not tilt the battery because acid
could leak out of the ventilat ion open
ings .
- If you get battery acid in your eyes or
on your skin, immediately rinse w ith
cold water for several minutes and get
medica l attent ion.
- If you shou ld ingest any battery acid,
seek medical attention immediately.
- Do not expose the battery to an open flame, e lectr ic sparks or an open light .
- Do not smoke.
- Do not interchange the positive and neg-
ative cables.
- When working on the battery, be sure
not to short-circuit the terminals with
tools or other metal objects . Th is would
cause the battery to heat up very quickly,
which could lead to damage or explosion and personal injury.
- When a battery is charged, it produces
hydrogen gas which is explos ive and
could cause pe rsonal in ju ry.
- Always keep the battery well out of the
reac h of children.
- Before work is done on the electrical sys
tem, disconnect the negat ive g round ca
b le.
- Before performing any work on the e lec
tr ica l system, switch off the engine and
ignit ion as well as any elec trical equip
ment. The negative cable on the bat tery
Emergency situations
General
This chapter is intended for trained emer
gency crews and working personnel who
have the necessary tools and equipment to
perform these operations.
Starting by pushing or
towing
(D Note
Vehicles with an automatic transmission
cannot be started by pushing or towing .
Starting with jumper
cables
If necessary, the engine can be started by
connecting it to the battery of another vehi
cle.
If the engine should fail to start because of a
discharged or weak battery, the battery can be
connected to the battery of
another vehicle,
using a
pair of jumper cables to start the en
gine.
Jumper cables
Use only jumper cables of sufficiently
largec ross section to safely carry the starter
current. Refer to the manufacturer's specifica
tions.
Use only jumper cables which have
insulated
termina l clamps and are properly marked for
distinction :
plus(+) cable in most cases colored red
minus(-) cable
i n most cases colored black.
_& WARNING
Batteries contain electricity, ac id, and gas.
Any of these can cause very serious or fatal
injury. Follow the instructions below for
safe handling of your vehicle's battery.
- Always shield you r eyes and avoid lean
ing over the battery whenever possible.
Emergency situations 231
-A discharged battery can already freeze
at temperatures just below 32 °F (0 °C).
Before connecting a jumper cable, the
frozen battery must be thawed com
pletely, othe rwise it could explode .
- Do not allow battery acid to contact eyes
or skin . Flush any contacted area with
water immediately .
- Improper use of a booster battery to
start a vehicle may cause an explosion.
- Vehicle batter ies generate explosive gas
es. Keep sparks, flame and lighted ciga
rettes away from batteries.
- Do not try to jump start any veh icle w ith
a low ac id level in the battery.
- The voltage of the booster battery must
also have a 12-Volt rating. The capacity
(Ah) of the booster battery should not be
lower than that of the discharged bat
tery . Use of batteries of different voltage
or substantially different "Ah" rat ing
may cause an exp losion and personal in
jury.
- Never charge a frozen battery. Gas trap
ped in the ice may cause an explosion.
- Never charge o r use a battery that has
been frozen . The battery case may have
be weakened.
- Use of batter ies of different voltage or
substantially different capacity (Ah) rat
ing may cause an exp losion and injury .
The ca pa city (Ah) of the booster battery
should not be lower than that of the dis
charged battery.
- Before you check anything in the engine
compartment, always read and heed all
WARNINGS¢
page 172, Engine com
partment.
(D Note
- App lying a higher voltage booster bat
tery will cause expensive damage to sen
sit ive electronic components, such as
control units, relays, rad io, etc .
- There must be no electrical contact be
tween the vehicles as otherwise current
could already start to flow as soon as the
posit ive(+) terminals are connected. ..,. •
•
232 Emergency situations
@ Tips
The discharged battery must be properly
connected to the vehicle's electrical sys
tem.
Use of jumper cables
Make sure to connect the jumper coble
clomps in exactly the order described below!
Fig. 174 Engine compart ment: Co nnectors for jumper
cables and charger
Fig. 175 Jump starting with the battery of another ve
hicle: @discharged veh icle battery, ® booste r battery
The procedure described below for connecting
jumper cables is intended to provide a jump
start for your veh icle.
Preparatory measures
1. Do not jump start a froze n battery! Re
place such a battery!
2 . Otherwise apply the hand brake and put
the selector lever into P position.
3. For both vehicles switch off all consumers
and the ign ition.
Connecting/disconnecting the jumper
cable .
4. Connect one end of the red jumper cable
on the
jump start bolt (D 9 fig. 175
(Bolts under red cover = "positive") of the
vehicle to be started @.
5. Connect the other end of the red jumper
cable to the positive terminal @of the
booster battery @.
6. Connect one end of the black jumper ca
ble to the negat ive terminal @of the
booster battery @.
7. Connect the other end of the black jumper
cable to the negative terminal (bolt head)
@ in the external start ing point @ of
your vehicle.
8. Route the jumper cables so that they can
not catch in any rotat ing parts in the en
gine compartment.
Starting the engine
9. Start the engine of the vehicle providing
assistance and allow it to run at id le .
10. Now start the engine of the vehicle with
the discharged battery, wait for two to
three minutes until the engine "runs"
smoothly.
11. If the eng ine does not start: Stop try ing
after 10 seconds and then try again after
about 30 seconds.
12. In the vehicle that has received start as
sistance, turn on the heater blower and
the rear window heating to elim inate any
vo ltage peaks when disconnecting . Driv
ing lights must be switched off!
13 . Disconnect the cable while the engine is
running exactly in
reverse order to that
described inc:>
page 232, Connecting/dis
connecting the jumper coble ..
When do
ing so, make sure that the cable cannot
contact rotating eng ine parts.
14. Close the cover on the posi tive terminal.
The battery is vented to the outside to prevent
gases from entering the vehicle inter ior. Make
sure that the jumper clamps are well connect
ed with their
metal parts in full contact with
the battery terminals.
A WARNING ~
To avoid serious personal injury and dam-
age to the vehicle, heed all warnings and