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Let me see, out of that litany of difficulties, I see two that relate. But I'm not sure that you mean what I think.
(1) The warning lights DO NOT go on with key in Position II, before starting.
(2) The alternator is not charging the battery.
As regards (1), does the oil pressure light behave differently thatn the other lights? On at the right time, off when engine starts?
Have a look at the back of the alternator. Find three wires connected. One is a large gauge red one, connected to a stud with an nut and - sometimes - a cover over the nut.
Another is a slightly smaller gauge, blue or black, connected between a bolt holding the alternator mounting bracket onto the block and the frame of the alternator.
The third is a smaller gauge red wire.
The two red ones, large and small, plus the black wire from the oil pressure sensor, are in a harness that goes from just behind the alternator, under the front pulley, up to somewhere near the distributor.
That small red wire is critical to the alternator being able to charge. If is is compromised, no charge (a bad thing here, not at the dept. store!).
The wire provides the ground side for the idiot warning lights on the dash. So if it's grounded anywhere, the lights come on. Normally it finds ground via the rotor windings in the alternator. A very small voltage gets there, and provides the initial excitation for the charging process. Once charging begins, the ground is lost and the lights go out.
So if that wire is grounded some other place, like under the front pulley, you get lights and no charge. If that wire is open somewhere, you get no lights and no charge.
The under-pulley harness outer cover gets brittle and subject to being chafed by the matal tabs that hold it in place. A tab can chafe all the way into the harness, and on through a wire insulation. That can ground the red wire.
There is a fix, fairly easy. I think you can find it in the archives.
Good Luck,
Bob
:>)
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240s: 1986 244GL, 1988 244GL, and 5 others.
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