I have a Fiesta 2018 model MK8. Seems all electrics are out so think I need to jumpstart. But what I noticed is that the negative terminal is hard to get at with the jump leads that came with the jumpstart pack that I got, the clips are really stiff and I’m not strong enough to open the clips with one hand and reach in to such a tight space and clamp them onto the terminal (I have to use both hands, that is how stiff they are, and the negative terminal is too far in the back of the bonnet and it’s a tight gap). I can only clip the positive lead on because the positive terminal is nicely in the open. However I did read in the jumpstarter manual that you can put the negative lead either to the negative terminal or to an “earth” point.

Anyway I’m wondering if you could help me as to where exactly I need to put the clips as I’m not really sure what counts as a grounding point and I don’t want to mess up. If you have a photo or something like that it would be great. The manual has a spot highlighted in pink in the jumpstarting section but I’m not sure if it goes directly on there or onto the bolt at the end. Or perhaps there are other spots that are easy to get at.

One more thing, the jumpstart pack I have is a “NOCO GB40”, I’m wondering, will the pack still be able to detect my battery if I did it this way (connect to positive and earth instead of positive and negative)? Or will I need to use the manual override feature?

Thanks

Also, another thing I was just thinking about but did not mention in my post:

My car is the one with the “push to start” button, and obviously for this to work it needs to detect the key inside the vehicle for it to start, but I’m wondering, since the battery is flat, would my car still be able to detect my key and therefore start up if I do the jump start?

I also hope my keys did not lose their programming for whatever reason.

ALWAYS read the owners handbook before trying to jump start your car.

The negative lead should NOT be connected to the battery terminal. It must be connected to the chassis main earth point which has a terminal for the jump lead to be connected to.

https://www.fordservicecontent.com/Ford_Content/vdirsnet/OwnerManual/Home/Content?countryCode=USA&languageCode=EN&Uid=G1911538&ProcUid=G1965077&div=f&variantid=6102&vFilteringEnabled=False&userMarket=GBR&buildtype=web

6 minutes ago, unofix said:

ALWAYS read the owners handbook before try jump starting your car.

The negative lead should NOT be connected to the battery terminal. It must be connected to the chassis main earth point which has a terminal for the jump lead to be connected to.

https://www.fordservicecontent.com/Ford_Content/vdirsnet/OwnerManual/Home/Content?countryCode=USA&languageCode=EN&Uid=G1911538&ProcUid=G1965077&div=f&variantid=6102&vFilteringEnabled=False&userMarket=GBR&buildtype=web

Ok thanks, just to confirm the negative goes directly on the pink part? Or does it go on the bolt at the end of the pink part?

Also in the manual of my NOCO jumpstarter pack it does say it can connect to either the negative terminal OR an Earth point, and when I was watching videos of people doing it on other cars they did this. But when they jump from another booster vehicle and not a dedicated portable starter pack they use only the Earth point and make it explicitly clear you need to do this. Either way like I said I will be connecting to the Earth point. 

On the metal bolt part of the chassis earth point.

Your Ford vehicle is equipped with a Battery Monitoring System (BMS) when jump starting OR when charging the battery the negative lead must be connected to the chassis earth point NOT the battery negative terminal.

1 minute ago, unofix said:

Your Ford vehicle is equipped with a Battery Monitoring System (BMS) when jump starting OR when charging the battery the negative lead must be connected to the chassis earth point NOT the battery negative terminal.

Ok, thank you for the information. I will hopefully be able to jumpstart my car. Do you know if my car will still be able to detect my keys and start up even though the battery is flat? I have a push button start. I was under the impression that there must be a valid key inside the vehicle for the button to work, but I was thinking, what if the keys aren’t detected if the battery is flat. Could just be me overthinking.

Connect the jump start pack first. Then the key should be detected as normal once inside the vehicle.

If your battery is extremely flat then you may have to use the boost/override button on the pack (if it has one) to put some charge in to the vehicle battery so that it can detect the key.

If all else fails then you will just need to place the keyfob in the special emergency "key not detected" place in your vehicle. Check the handbook for the exact location of where to place the keyfob.