This is a 1988 camaro and a picture of the steering column dropped, ive been trying to troubleshoot a no crank issue and the yellow wire on the blue connector to the ignition switch is supposed to read 12v and it reads nothing, i replaced the switch itself still nothing, it has a brand nee starter, battery and terminals the main wire on the starter to the battery reads 12v, the field wire reads nothing and the command wire reads nothing (the smallest wire to the starter), thats why im messing with the ignition. I also replaced all the relays that are underneath there. Can someone shed some light on what i could be missing??? There are alot of aftermarket relays and splices too. The original problem started when i replaced the alternator, before that it was cranking and starting everytime.

 

The yellow wire should get 12V when you turn the key to start. Should be dead all the rest of the time.

The red wires in that same plug, and in the other one also, should have power 100% of the time. Check those before you get all wound up about the yellow one.

Go back and check your work around the alternator. That's where whatever you disturbed, is disturbed. Look carefully at everything you touched - NOT "I know I got that right" - and make sure you didn't overlook something. Leave the dash wiring alone and put it back together before any more damage is done. That's about like starting to take the engine apart to try to fix a flat tire.

Make sure you have the ign sw adjusted properly before you button up the column.

 

I should also have mentioned, but failed: (because I'm basically an idiot)

I see sodomy and hackage down in the center left of that photo, involving (surprise!! ?) a big yellow wire that appears to be coming from the ign sw harness. Looks like maybe an aftermarket alarm was hacked into the car at some point in its unfortunate life since it appears to be hacked into the starter circuit. Might want to track that down and REMOVE EVERY TRACE of its miserable existence, repairing all the wiring to as close to factory as it can be restored, after whatever bestiality got visited upon it by some hack. May not be The Source of whatever is currently The Problem, but isn't doing you any favors. Might as well disinfect that at the same time as all the rest, since it's sitting there staring you in the face, exposing itself.

Have I used the word "hack" enough times?

 

 

Yes there are some relays with wires spliced into them and some kind of unit if you look at the bottom left of the photo I would love to remove this completely and I have spliced wires before but not to this degree of complexity so i dont even know where to start. the ignition switch in the picture is the old one, it has a new one in there but I dont think I adjusted it correctly?, also this problem started when I replaced the alternator and forgot to disconnect the battery..., after that I replaced the starter then put the old alternator back on to see if that did anything, it cranked and started once after messing with a wire to the alternator but no matter what I couldnt replicate it.
last thing when i test the ignition switch wiring am I taking out the connector and probing the connector itself or somehow i have to do it when its connected to the switch?

 

I don't really see any "complexity" there.

Cut out the aftermarket garbage. Whether "relays", "units", whatever. OUT. Then splice the yellow to the yellow, blue to the blue, and so on.

Not rocket surgery, really.

Do it in a way that's NO LESS reliable than what's there... like, use uninsulated splices, crimp em REAL GOOD making sure that EVERY strand of wire on both sides is included, then solder em with rosin core (electronic, like you can get at MicroCenter, NOT "plumbing") solder, then wrap em up real good with rubber splicing tape and then yerbasic 33+ or the like std electrical tape.

Not that hard. You can do this. It's just a car, just electricity. Battery & ground. It's all about as simple as it gets.

Test the switch as installed. Probe the terminals where they plug in. Have your assistant turn the key as necessary.