Electrical problem - advice needed.

This is a friend's truck. 

1999 Dodge Dakota,  3.9 V6, 5spd, 2wd

Yesterday went to start the truck during lunch, wouldn't start.  With key in, lights, etc. all work.  Jumped it and it started & ran fine.

Parked it and put it on a charger.  Charger initially said 'low', now reads 'full'.  With a multimeter it now reads around 13.0v.  Tried to start, and just a 'click' from the starter, but no cranking, no start.

Jumped it again, reads 14+ volts.

This battery is about 1 week old.  What do we check next?  Take the battery to advance auto for a load test?

sounds like poor connection between battery terminal and battery post to me.

Check both battery connections and all grounds. 

Edit: when I say check, I mean remove and clean to bare metal, resintall, and paint/protect. 

How are you jumping? Battery to battery? or the 'correct' way of attaching the ground side on the vehicle being jumped to the engine instead of the neg battery terminal?

If the second, then I would say there is a main engine ground broken since even with good voltage you can't flow enough current to the starter (until you give the current somewhere else to go - like through the jumper cable).

If the first, take battery in for a load test (and check the cable connections).

18 year old truck?  Remove the ground wire from the battery and the truck, then clean both ends of the connection.  Then clean the positive connection to the battery.  

Add me to the "poor connection" chorus. Had starting issues in the 2002 once with terminals that *looked* fine. They don't have to be at all crusty to have lousy contact. Not that it has to be the battery terminals where the problem is, but they're awfully easy to clean first... And I also think this applies despite having just installed the battery, unless the new battery and the clamps were scrubbed good and well at the time.

The same as above, but I'll add in check the wires actually firing off your starter..  Those can get pretty nasty as well and not provide enough juice for the angry pixies to turn the starter motor over.

If the problem persists after cleaning up the wiring check the starter. I've seen starters that would only work with a jump pack on the car. Weird stuff. 

Terminals sounds plausible.  They were scrubbed, cleaned, and protected when the battery was installed.  But it seems most consistent with other symptoms so we'll start there.

All good advice here. Sounds like a bad ground to me too, but don't rule out the battery. I had a new battery fail this year. I'd swap a known good battery before getting into it. 

You can do a poor man's voltage drop test with a test light.  Hold the ground clamp of the light on the battery post.  Not the cable clamp.  With somebody trying to crank, touch the test light probe to the positive post, then the clamp, then the cable, starter, engine block, ground cable, cable clamp.  You should not lose the light anywhere on the positive side, and it shouldn't light anywhere on the ground side. If either thing happens, you have a bad connection between the last correct spot and wherever your probe is now.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

I like this.  A lot. I'm gonna have to try to remember that for future use. 

14 volts from a battery ?

A way to load test battery in the car is have someone crank the starter while you hold multimeter to the terminals. Before crank battery should be 12-14v, as you know. Crank it and watch the multimeter. Should drop to 6-8v initially then stabilize at around 12v. Any lower and/or doesn't return to 12 while cranking there is a bad cell in the battery. I too have had a new battery fail. Twice. Different cars though. Both times warranty covered it.

iceracer said:

14 volts from a battery ?

From alternator.  Battery is receiving 14v when the truck is running.