Forgive me Art, I hadn't had enough coffee when I posted :)

The whole story is my wife was 90 miles away when she called to say the alternator crapped out, which was "verified" by some lovely young man at a chain retail parts store. So I bought a new alternator and drove to the car, only to find when beginning the alt replacement, as in, disconnecting the battery that the thin red wire was hanging on by a strand. I remedied that and started the car, and was getting 13.9V, and the little cigarette lighter device told me I was good. After her drive home and a little bit more she said she suspected the same thing, which is when I noticed the slightly melted fuse holder. Figuring that that could certainly be a least part of the problem, I got a new holder, twisted on temporarily and no start. I then removed the holder and twisted the 2 wires together bypassing the fuse and no start. I'm concerned that something else may be cooked, which will be tonight"s fun and games I suppose.

And, it's a 1988 wagon.

Regards,
Bill