K, the ground cable on the back of the engine is fine.
I did notice that the key in the aux position I get 12 volts to the relays. and when I turn the key forward I get 12volts to the body. I had by DVM negative connected to the battery and positive going to the body and I get 12 volts when the key is turn all the way forward as if I was about to start it....guess that would be when you get your dash lights come on just before you turn it on if that makes sense.
I dont think that would be normal.
Mike
any ideas.
I'll come back later and see if anyone posted up.

On the ground to the headlights....when I flip the switch it shows 12.7. i am thinking ground is ground and shouldn't show volts. The ground to the head lights to DVM to body shows 12.7.
I tested the H.lights bbulbs and they test out fine.
am i not missing something?
Man, I am lost.....Let me check the battery....it may be possible that the battery post are miss label and they need to fix my truck for free.
Mike

The headlights use a switched ground connection:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/Headlights.shtml#HarnessTypes

found another burnt relay next to the driver side kick panel....going to go get another one.
I will look at the link you posted later on tonight....from what you say that is understanding...I just don't know why axillary switch has power and one more click forward on the ignition switch I get nothing...no power.
Mike

It may be that the contacts in the ignition switch for the ON position are burnt out, while the ACC and START contacts are intact. If the short occured while the truck was running, then the ignition would have been in the ON position and those contacts could have seen the high current and fried.

I replaced the ignition switch with one from pick-n-pull...it is possible that the one I bought was burnt out too. It just don't make sense that the headlights and any other light don't work as well.
To me the ignition switch is the part that connects to the key tumbler on the opposite side that is held in with one little screw that has 5 or 6 wires connected to it on the steering column.
Mike

K just to let all know before you go taking everything apart. check relays and ignition switch because that is basically what the problem was after I had grounded out the positive cable while driving it with no starter.
Replaced three relays...the drive side kick panel has the main relay that runs just about everything. And yes I burnt out the ignition switch. After the relay was replaced a friend came over and we changed out the ignition switch with the one from pick-n-pull. I did that yesterday with no working results so I pulled it back out thinking that was not part of the problem and kept with the old one.
Thanks to all that posted up.
Mike

No, it sounds like you still have a ground problem. Showing voltage on the ground side for the headlamp relay means there is a missing ground in that circuit. What you are essentially doing is performing a voltage drop test. The ground cable can be no good and still look ok on the outside. Attach one end of a jumper cable to the battery negative, and the other end to the engine block. This will bypass the ground cable. If this doesn't do it, attach the cable between the battery negative and a good body ground, to bypass the smaller body ground wire. Remember that electricity will find any possible ground to complete the circuit. In the 80's, it was common to have a no start on a Camaro with a shifter that wouldn't move. What happened was that the ground cable would go bad, and the started would ground thru the shift cable until it melted and stuck. Front wheel drive VW's would do the same thing, melting the clutch cable.

I don't think I have any other issues. It runs fine. I wish that damn tach. would work all the time instead of when it wants too. Seems when it is very hot outside it works. The needle is probibly sticking.
Anyway, It's all good. I just missed a Run here in Texas. I would of like to have gone.
Mike

Sounds like you're up and running ok now . Relays can be a pain to troubleshoot and as they approach 20+ years old can get a little burn or corrosion on the contacts. Most of the relays can be carefully removed and then taken apart for inspection of the contacts and then can be troubleshot using a FSM.
More than once , I have seen the "circuit opening switch" cause the symptoms which you described.