You have a short somewhere. The way to check the amp meter is pull the instrutment cluste and look at the wiring going to the meter to see if there is any sign of overheat. Be sure to disconnect the battery before pulling the cluster. Didn't you say you added a temp gauge recently? If so I would start6 with that and see if the light wires are hooked up correctly. Do the wies get hot before you turn on the key?