Not sure whats going on with my alternator but it doesnt seem to be working, I had to take it off to give room to work so I could replace the head gasket, Ive been driving my car fine for a few days now and now the battery is drained, Im not sure if maybe I missed a wire or how many wires go to the alternator or if ground is good, heres what I do know, I have a red wire connected to the positive terminal and I have a wire that connects to the alternator, any suggestions or diagrams would be great! Its a '99 monte carlo ls 3.1

 

Could it be the starter? The battery is charged and I turn the key and it just clicks now. Heres some info on how this issue came about, I went to start my car and it cranked over sluggishly which was weird but I was headed into town to get parts for the car anyways, and I had just gotten into town and the gages on the dash started moving sporadically and then the car died, Luckily someone came by and jumped me so I could get off the road. Thought maybe then it was the alternator because the positive wire was loose, I tightened it down and started it up this time it started up fine and I drove it home for about 5 minutes and it died again. Disconnecting the battery while its running kills it instantly so I guess it could be the alternator but I dont see why with a fully charged battery it wouldnt start if the alternator is the problem

 

Given you had electrical issues and the car died while running, the main cause here is something other than the starter.

Do you have a way to test voltage or alternator output? Assuming you don't, I'd pull the alternator and take it in to get tested first.

Did you remove any ground straps while doing the head gaskets?

 

I found my service manual and copied some of the pages that you might want to review.
You might want to pick something like this up I got mine on ebay. that way you can get an idea what the factory repairs are . I took multiple shots here because sometimes they come out blurry so this was you have a few to choose from so if you encounter the same page it was intentional. There is some starter info on here how to stuff. Also some hard start issues and repairs.

















When I do a repair I usually try to review as much info as I can prior to doing the work. I take a photo of how it looked before I take it apart also.