Chrysler Repair: dead spot in the ignition, infinite ohms, amp fuse

Question
I have a 95 Chrysler Concorde that doesn't start sometimes unless you turn the steering wheel. It has been getting worse and now no matter where you turn the wheel it won't start. I thought at first there was a wire that had the insulation rubbed off and was touching the steering column, but I'm wondering if there is something in the ignition switch. I've removed the covers and pulled the wiring harness plug off the column. Can I jumper some of the wires to make sure that it is the ignition switch or is there something else I can check?
Thanks

Answer
Hi Bill,
It is fairly easy to check the ignition switch once you have multiwire plug removed from it. The there are two incoming hot leads from the battery; pin 5 red wire and pin 10 pink/black wire. The starter relay is activated via pin 5 power being connected to pin 8, and then from pin 8 a yellow wire goes to the starter relay.. So you could observe the function of the starter connection by putting an ohmmeter across pins 5 and 8 and then try the start position with the key and see if you get the meter to move off of infinite ohms to go down to 0 ohms in start position. If it shows no connection or only a bit of a connection, say 10 ohms or so, you might want to get a spray can of contact cleaner and spray inside the switch to reduce that resistance. Let me know what you determine. I don't see how turning the wheel would affect the starter unless the current was being shorted to ground from the yellow wire so follow it as far as you can to the bulkhead pass through and on the other side of the fire wall on to the power distribution center where the relay is located. If there was a short then you would expect 20 amp fuse #A in the power distribution center to be blown. But check that fuse too, to make sure it it not loose or corroded in its socket. This should reveal what is going on. You could also pull the starter relay out of the socket and test for 12V when you try start at connector 8A in the relay socket because that is the pin that has the yellow wire coming from the ignition switch. If that works, and park/neutral safety switch is reliable, then that should result in a reliable starter motor activation, unless the relay or the starter motor solenoid is flakey. If you have a column mounted gear shift selector it may be the case that turning the wheel flexes the coupling of the gear shift rod to the trans and if the park/neutral safety switch is slightly out of adjustment so that it doesn't close,  which is the other reason why the starter relay won't energize. So try wiggling the gear shifter slightly either way from the detent position to see if that might be the cause of the no start.
Roland