LOAD Pro would have seen the fault.

 

Again, with no load on the circuit, the meter will lie to you.

Read voltage and push the button to load the circuit.  If voltage falls on it's tail, the problem is in the wiring, corrosion/highresistance.

 

LOAD Pro on amazon runs about $50 and should be used everytime you read voltage.

Easy!

 

 

Larry

I placed an order for a LoadPro last Friday , kind of expecting I would not identify the problem this weekend.

Even though I found the problem without the LoadPro, I will happy to have that tool in my arsenal. These types of electrical problems on aging cars will always come up in the future.

Also helps to see what the problem AND the solution looks like without it.

Here is the way I see it. The voltage at the ignition switch area tested good but you saw basically no voltage at the fuses which is where the trouble was at. So in my opinion your meter didn't lie to you. We needed to see how the voltage was distributed to the areas you had trouble with and then make the proper checks. Finding the bad spot was pretty simple after that.

 

The LoadPro will be good have on hand. You could also do the same thing with your meter by bridging a 300 ohm resistor across your meter leads. That will put a small load on the circuit to create a voltage drop when you take the voltage measurement.

Load pro looks like a similar version of a power probe, but at a more reasonable price.

 

I've been sold on power probe since the first time I used it though. It may be more but it will replace your multi meter.

 

Auto ranging multi meter and it energizes circuits positive and negative at the push of a button. It can also power small motors like power windows and lots more.

 

The built in flashlight is nice too.

 

I'm not a salesman for them i just really love their product, it makes tracing electrical problems like this alot easier.

 

Check them out

http://www.powerprobe.com