Haven't thrown out anything and will keep the original cable.
Traced it to being an old cracked wire that was pinched between the rad support and the battery. We found the spot where it went to ground and I'm still waiting for the new cable to arrive. Should be here today?
We checked all the wires in both directions as well as checked the solenoid and the VR before we found and isolated the spot where the wire went to ground. All good here.