Infuriating no electrical

Hey folks,

the problem is that about a month ago my 89 4.0 ran fine and went wheeling in the pismo dunes and came home fine. I didn't drive it until about a week ago, no start. it's not making the click of a weak battery and it doesn't crank at all. I replaced the ignition switch at the base of the steering column, but while i had the connectors off, probed them with a test light and found no power coming to any of the terminals. i believe this switch controls the fuel pump as well because normally when the key is in acc i can hear the pump, but now there is nothing. I'm not exactly sure where to go on this. I bridged the fuel pump relay (2nd one from the front behind starter relay) and heard the pump, so i guess that is bad, but still got no power to the switch connectors.

Is there an ignition fuse and if so, where is it? is there anything else to look for? I really need to get this thing back on the road.

thanks,

Danny

Check the fusible links near the battery, at the starter relay. The easiest way is to take off one end, stick the ohm meter probe through the wire on one end and onto the disconnected ring on the other end. You may want to disconnect the battery before testing.
You can also stick the wire with the fusible links connected and use a volt meter to battery ground, but this can be misleading. The link can pass a trickle of voltage and still be bad.