Hi all. I have a 96 Dakota 318. When i turn the key I just get a click. I replaced the battery cable ends and that did not seem to help matters. My battery is fairly new and fully charged.

The interesting thing is that the other day it would not start one morning and I just turned the key about 15 times fully turning it off ech time. the truck finally started after one "partial" turnover. I drove the truck the rest of the day and made several starts and it started back each time on the first try. Next morning it would not start again but I got it to start after about a dozen attempts. It started every time that day after that. Now today It will not start no matter how many times I try. I did notice one time this morning as I had the hood up while trying to start it that the radiator fan moved about two inches during one cllick. Could this be the solenoid and why is it only bad when "cold"?

 

Next time it clicks tap on the starter a few times with a long rod or something that will reach it then try it. If it works the starter is going south...

 

prolly all you need to do is put in a set of contacts. not that hard to do but if you haven't done it before you might want to schedule some time for it. also you should check your starter relay. dirty contacts in the relay could be causing high resistance
not allowing the soleniod to have the amperage that it needs. when you are trying to
start it do you see any smoke? 70% or more of the time you just need to put contacts in it. roughy $20 if you do it and $100 if you pull the starter and have it done at dealer (don't know that anyone else would even know what it is lol) if you can't do it yourself it'd be more cost effective to get a starter if you can handle that on your own.

 

Yup, sounds like the starter to me.

 

the same thing happened to me. it turned out to be the starter.

 

The clicking sound is the starter solenoid kicking out usually meaning it is working. Because it only happens when it is cold out, Im assuming that the starter is caked in oil, transmission fluid, or power steering fluid. When it is cool out, these fluids get thicker causing more resistance for the starter. Crawl under and determine if the casing is full of fluid. This is what happened to my truck and is a common problem.