Burnt Wire

67Dart273 said
You need to figure this out. If you unhook the yellow start wire at the start
relay what happens. Does the discharge go away? I doubt the ammeter is "bad" in that sense

Bear in mind THERE HAS BEEN CASES where the igntion switch itself was bad---the contacts inside the switch started to "float around" inside and make odd, unwanted connection. Maybe your start circuit is contacting the metal case of the switch

yeah, I was going to drop the column and get inside the of it behind the wheel so I can actually look inside to see the start switch, but i need to pull the steering wheel to do so. That is why I am trying to do everything else first. And I will try and do that with the yellow wire.

I was also going to try and start it with the solenoid under the hood and not with the key to try and narrow it down further.