Good spot for a battery ground?

I went to give a friend jump start no matter what metal bolt I touched there was no spark. The positive terminal was fine.

Check your owner's manual, I think it says not to give jump starts...

that said...

...your engine should have a black metal gadget attached to it, with the appearance cover on it will stick up like a sore thumb next to the cover.  it is used to lift and pivot the engine at various times for various reasons.

Works for me as a ground.  It won't necessarily spark.

The starter BTW is grounded to a bolt on the passenger side forward box member.  Look behind the radiator cap and down, can't miss it.  

Other decent grounds are the transmission case, the through-bolt on the passenger side engine mount bracket (which, conveniently, is very near the positive poser point) and the bracket that holds the ignition module.

HOWEVER I'd just use that sore thumb black thing.  

In giving the jump start, connect your car to the car with weaker battery, in parallel. start and run your car for a bit.  5-10 minutes if you can.  Then disconnect the jumper cables from your car,  and attempt starting the other car.

If that does not work and your battery is good, you can connect your car to the other car and attempt to start that other car while your car is off.

Do not under any circumstances give a jump start while your car is running. If you do so you may  damage the ignition module or the powertrain computer.  

Albertj

Wow thank you Albert, I was doing exactly the wrong thing but I know now. So I guess if my car is dead I need to do the same process in reverse? One of those mini jump start power supply's must be a no no too? Great info, you should make it a sticky.

It depends a little on why your car is 'dead,' but generally if you are *getting* a jump start, then following the instructions for the car that's giving you a jump, or the instructions for the jumpstart battery pack, will be fine, and you can connect at the positive power point and one or another of the ground locations I mentioned.

It's *giving* a jump that's tricky.

Consult your owner's manual.

Thank you for the info. It turned out the guys positive cable was not connected to the end so obviously nothing worked until they figured that out. Worked out good for me because then it was actually not a jump start.