This is the last bit of time I have to work on the car, and while it's in pretty good shape, the zombie engine problem persists. It only took me a few minutes with the multimeter to find that there is 4-5V remaining on the ignition run terminal of the switch when the key is off, enough voltage to keep the relay activated on the infamous pink wire. (I found that the wire is actually red, just somewhat faded in its run through the engine compartment. Hence it shall be called The Red Wire.)
The battery light in the gauge cluster remains on while the engine runs, but I found if I pull that bulb out, problem solved and the engine stops on command. (Or if the headlights are on.) Some Internet chatter indicates some people solve this by putting a diode in the charging circuit, but I think that is just masking the problem.
I am pretty sure this means the alternator has a blown diode and is feeding low voltage back through the charging light into all the unswitched electricals, which includes the ignition circuit due to another butt connector. Sure are a lot of these things.
I have a couple of spare alternators, but swapping those out only demonstrated that none of this garbage works at all, so I see some Bosch rebuilding experience in my future.
By some kind of miracle, Autozone had a single remanufactured unit in stock. This is a chancy thing, but it's the only one anyone in town has, so it's arriving tomorrow, and we'll see what we see.
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