Originally posted by Sammyprgandy
Thanks HWORRELL. You are more thank likely right. The selenoid is stuck open. But,would this cause the alternator to not hole the engine? How would that work? The alternator wire is on the same post as the battery,right? and should hold the charge needed to sustain power to the motor if the battery fails. So,even if the bridge to the starter and battery is constantly connected,once the batter is disconnected the alternator should pick up the motor and stop the charge on the battery,so the selenoid becomes a non-issue. Why,with a new and tested alternator,would this be the case of the engine quitting after the battery is disconnected? That's confusing. Bad wires? They look good. Poor connection? Feels tight and looks clean. Belt is tight and turning without a problem. Is this the selenoid,or keep looking?

you all reading to much in the job of the alt. until you get it running forget about the alt. the alt dont carry the motor, its charges the bat up. youve got a starter staying engaged, the best thing you can do with the alt. is unhook it until you fix the starter or you gonna burn up the alt up to. until you turn the ign on there should not be any volts at the starter, if you do have valtage at the starter with key off then go back up the wiring find out where its shorted. a ford starter will go bad an turn on it own sometimes, but its a matter of using the wiring diagram that danny sent you, you should be able to wire the sol.