Strange problem needs expert help

[wlee]

A friend of mine who owns a ’71 Custom 10 with a 350 automatic called the other day to see if I could help him get it started. It seems his son left the lights on and ran the battery down . . . sounds simple enough, but he didn’t discover the problem for 6 days, so the battery was REALLY flat. The first thing he did was to hook up a charger and try to start it again . . . here’s where the information gets a little fuzzy. He doesn’t remember if he used the 30amp charge function or the 50 amp quick charge . . . probably doesn’t matter, except that there was some damage done to the dash circuit board. (I’m assuming he left the key on while the battery was charging)

When I got there, I put in a new battery and checked the terminal at the fender for continuity – everything was OK . . . tried starting & got nothing. That’s when the owner said he could ark across the solenoid & the truck would start – at that point I checked the connection at the key, and when I re-attached the plug, the heater fan came on, so I thought I’d found the problem, but the truck still won’t start with the key. I found the problem with the dash circuit board while I was checking the ignition switch – when I reconnected the switch the dash circuit started smoking. The trace from the ammeter burned, and I’m not sure why. I replaced the circuit board & reconnected the battery – no smoke, so I guess there isn’t a short anywhere, but the engine will not start with the key. You can turn the key to “ON” and jump the solenoid and the engine starts – then it will stop with the key turned off.

My question is – do you guys think the ignition switch start contacts could be burned or am I dealing with something else?? Any help will be appreciated!