Toyota Repair: Dead short, digital multimeter, ground cable

Question
1999 Toyota Tacoma 4 cyl. 110,000 org.miles. I disconnected ground cable from battery & connected a digital multimeter between battery ground & the ground cable, should I get a voltage reading or does this mean I have a dead short? It shows almost 13 volts. All switches & lights are off during test. I pulled all fuses (except heater fan & headlights,I could'nt get them 2 out) 1 at a time with meter but voltage remain the same.

Answer
You're going to read voltage there, this is normal, it's the current you need to be concerned about, current draw is measured on the ammmeter setting of your DVOM connected in series with the neg battery post and the cable. Start with the meter set to 10A and take a reading, if it's less than 0.03 then there is no excess current draw.