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More help -
Long bolt. Chances are (I have never done this) that you can drive without the long bolt on the a/c compressor better than without the alternator long bolt. I think they are the same so try a swap. Stay off the a/c until you get 2 bolts from the junk yard (with your track record, best to have a spare!)
Alternator physics.
Remember high school physics? Electricity is generated when a wire moves in a magnetic field, or a field moves through a coil of wire?
That's what the alternator does, but - there is no magnetic field in there at the beginning of engine start.
On the alternator rotor is a relatively small coil that will become a magnet in motion when a current is passed through it. That thin red wire brings a small current to that coil.
Current from the battery through Fuse #13, through the Batt warning light (and the other three) thence to the alternator via that gray connector and the leaky harness. That alternator connector goes to one of the brushes which touches a slip ring that's connected to the coil on the rotor. The other end of that coil is connected to the other slip ring, and the brush and thence to the alternator ground wire and back to the battery.
So without that thin red wire, connected to the D+/61 terminal, no magnet and no charge. Once the alternator begins spinning, the negative ground connection becomes positive, so the four warning lights go out, having 12v positive on both sides.
AND, the alternator can then use some of the LARGE current made in the field (non-spinning) coils to make a BIG magnetic field on the rotor. The charging current gets from the alternator to the battery (via the starter lug) through that fat red wire which is connected to the B+ terminal.
But wait, what makes the oil light go out? It's separate from the four that depend on the alternator. Inside the oil sensor the wire is grounded (light on) unless there is pressure above (I think) 5 psi.
Now you can explain all this to the next newbie, OK? If not, post back and ask for more.
Good Luck,
Bob
:>)
PS: Sometime soon you should get under and check that harness under the engine front. If the clips that hold it in place have chafed into the cover, they may be into the insulation, too. A clip, without its rubber tip covering, gets into contact with the conductor in the B+ wire, it IS a fire hazard.
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