i have a 95 dodge dakota sport with the 4 cylinder 2.5 motor. my problem is that yesterday i forgot to turn my headlights off going to work so the battery died. i jumped it with a jump pack drove it home shut it down. when i got home tonight i put a new battery in and when i turn the key onto the on position the dash lights will come on like usual then when you go to start it they quickly fade away like the battery is dead again. grant i may have a defective battery but soimething isnt right. i just jumped the new battery with a the jump pack and it was having trouble still startin until i gave it some gas when i was starting it then it fired right up. i need help fast i need my truck to go to work tomorrow..

thank you

 

sounds like an alternator issue to me, auto stoned will check it for free

 

i was workin on a friend of mine car and it was doing the samething. i know its dumb but try and clean the cables and posts the posts getminor crosion on them from sitting on the shelf and the termanals are allways cruoded. use a wire brush and baking soda. to check if its crosion put a volt meter on the pos termanal and then to the pos cable u should have no more than .5 volts do the same for the neg. my friend bought it from a junk yard and it had rust so check for that to. and yes i know i cant spell.

 

dodges do not like to run on dead batteries. cycle the ignition three times an then see if it will fire up.