Late-Bay Bus, Is My Fuse Box Dead?

[VWBusrepairman]

Anyone up for an electrical gremlin question?
Previous information:
To begin, the bus ran great yesterday even though I had ran the battery down after Dixie bus by leaving the key in the ignition (I ran the stereo to terminal 25-key buzzer- thus removal of the key turns off the stereo).

I removed the battery and took it to Advance to have it fully charged (my charger stopped working yesterday mysteriously). I installed the battery, went to crank it and heard a brief click.
The findings from this morning:
Today, I noticed that I had maybe 6 volts at the starter terminal, so I removed wires until it jumped back to 12 volts. The red/white wire leading to the fuse box was somehow dropping the voltage in half!

I then disconnected the red/white wire which travels to s9 in the fuse box and there was 12 volts on it again (at the fuse box). I connect it and the voltage drops and fluctuates between 12 and maybe 9 something volts. Anyone know what I should do next? I'm no electrician! Something is eating my voltage.

At this point, the bus is dead with no signs of life. I'm wondering if there is a short in my fuse box. Thoughts?

[hambone]

Get a wiring diagram and trace that wire back that seems to be giving you trouble. Something is probably shorting out.

[VWBusrepairman]

Get a wiring diagram and trace that wire back that seems to be giving you trouble. Something is probably shorting out.

I have the diagram and the wire giving the problem is the red/white wire. It supplies current to S9 in the fuse box coming from the starter (terminal 50).

Perhaps pulling fuses one-by-one might give more clues as to where the short may be.

[dingo]

Yes, isolate by pulling one fuse at a time. Also, the old-style fuses get green corrosion on the copper. In a pinch, just insert an in-line fuse where needed.

Some possibilities to check:
Stock ignition/starter switches will drop volts with age.
A bad ground connection somewhere?