Hi everyone,

Week two and I'm now ripping my hair out trying to figure this out.  I hope someone here can please help me, I don't know what else to do?

Pretty much stock 1980 Pinto 2.3... Hooker header, otherwise, the engine is bone stock.

I had to adjust the timing and the distributor was frozen in place. 
I ended up unbolting the alternator to enable me to get a good grip on the distributor.
Naturally, I broke the long bottom bolt that anchors the alternator but there's enough of the broken bolt left to still hold the bottom of the alternator in place.

With the car cold, everything seems to be ok but once it warms up a bit, the car simply dies.
Try to start it and it'll crank, fire and immediately die.

If I remove the top bolt from the alternator (the one you tighten to adjust the alternator belt), the car will not crank.
If I ground the alternator by jumper wire or by tightening the adjustment bolt, the car will crank, fire and immediately die.  I can see little sparks between the alternator and the bracket when the two come close to making contact.

If I ground the alternator, fire the car up and immediately remove the ground wire from the alternator, the car will run like nobody's business.  (Until I ground the alternator.)

In an experiment, I put some heavy tape between the alternator and the adjusting bracket. 

Using a jumper wire I grounded the alternator, fired up the car, immediately pulled the ground wire off the alternator and pulled the alternator so the belt was tight.  The alternator charged the battery just like it should and the car runs without any issue --- until I put the top bolt in (thereby grounding the alternator) and the engine immediately dies.

ANY idea what the heck is going on??   I am at a complete loss here. 

How does grounding the alternator complete the start circuit?
Why is the car dying as soon as the alternator is grounded?
Why is car apparently running fine when it's cold but acting so goofy after it warms up a bit?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you very much for any direction you can give me with this,

Dave

Hi

Thank you very much for your reply.

Alternator not tested, it's always worked fine and continues to charge around 14 volts.

If I remove the alternator, the car will not crank.
If I ground the alternator, the car will crank but not run.  If I remove the ground from the alternator after it cranks, the car will run indefinitely.

I will check the engine to frame ground strap - thank you for that idea.

Battery is very good, connections are A-1.

I did not check ignition switch but it's always felt "mushy" to me.  I will check Google for an ignition switch wiring schematic.

Thank you again for your help!!

Can’t  say if your problem is explained by this but I can tell you I had an early 80’s Mustang that ran great till it warmed up then quit.  Turned out to be the ignition control module. If I remember correctly the wiring from the module connects to the side of the distributor. Perhaps in adjusting the timing the wiring was compromised or could be the box itself. If you run out of other options you may want to check it out.

Cant help with a test procedure. After chasing a few other things with no success I replaced it and that was the fix.