WTH is frying my electrical system?!

[CRobinsonVG2]

I went to start my 99 Vanguard 2 and it's dead as a hammer. I had run it 4 weeks before and everything was working perfectly. I get out my jump pack and connect to the battery. When I turn on the pack the winch begins spooling out. I find the brand new winch solenoid is stuck in closed (on) position. I disconnect the winch and to jump it off. Find the 6 month old gel battery is KIA. I try to pull start it. It will not fire. After a few minutes I decided to disconnect the kill lead off front of motor. I pull start it no issues. So now I'm thinking the brand new ignition switch is bad. Is there a voltage regulator somewhere that could be bad? Could a dead battery kill the engine requiring me to disconnect the kill wire?

[North Country Tough]

Yea U got some issues there,definitely the solenoid probably pooched the battery at some time,but I never seen a situation where the battery would not let you start the engine Via the pull start assuming the key was in fact on so that seems like a further switch problem as you have stated and yes there is a voltage reg/rectifier on the outside of the engine itself its been so long since I had a Vanguard but as i remember it had three wires bolted on with two bolts on the fan housing.Be absolutely sure as you work your way thru these problems that all grounds are in place and in good condition grounds bad can cause a host of issues as electricity works its way back to ground thru lights switchs you name it and can drive you coo coo.NCT

[dirtdobber]

Hey CRobinson. Glad to see another Mississippi member here. I'm in Oxford.

Check your harness to make sure no wires have melted together. If that winch solenoid went bad there is a chance it could have overheated some wires and melted some insulation, although fuses should have prevented this if you have them.