my wife's 84 gt battery has been losing a charge, i mean all the way down,i have to disconnect the battery just to get it to charge. could the
problem be the alternator. as with everything else, it's a real pain to get off. any help will be most appreciated.

Initially is sounds like you had a bad battery, Take your battery down to Autozone or checkers and have it deep cycle tested, some times a bad battery will show good on their hand held testers.

Here in AZ i have seen after you jump a vehicle and then disconnect the jumper cables it the car dies. You would think it was the alternator but guess what/ it be the battery, it broke that hard to the point that it was drawing so much power form the alternator to charge that the vehicle could not run. Now i have two batteries from two separate cars check good with the hand held tester then had them use the deepcycle tester to check it and both times the battery was dead.

The climate is bad here for batteries but if you get the 96 month batteries here you'll never have to pay for one again.

Another potential battery draw is the headlight motors. If they do not completely shut down, activiate the limite switch they will continue to draw amperage.

Happened to me, been there. Rebuilt the driver side motor, cured the problem. Not saying that this is your problem but worth an investigation.

If it turns out to be the alternator go with the CS swap. My car never had as bright dash lights!

thanks for the info, battery test is good from my battery dealer deep check. temporarily installed a fixture
that allows you to un screw 1/4 turn to disconnect battery. amp gauge used to show charging, now shows
very low, thats' what made me think alternator. i know that opens a can of gauges working worms too. any
one else have experiance with these disconnects.....thanks

ok guys, back to the gm engineers. barrowed a buddys tester and the altenator seems bad, spent 3 hour just getting it unhooked,
now does anyone have an idea on how to get it out of the car........haynes manual says to un hook all connections, un bolt tensioner,
and pivot bolt, both corroded and very difficult to remove, then drop alt out bottom of engine bay. i see no way to do this without removing
major axhaust componants, or susupension parts at rt rear wheel. i would be most gratefull if someone had a thought on this.....thank you
all in advance for any help........HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Couple options. Unbolt the case, split it in two and you can take it out fairly easy. To take it out in one piece, jack up the right rear and remove the wheel. Take out the splash shield, unbolt the tie rid end and disconnect it. The alternator will come out the bottom/side.

How old is the battery?How old is the Alternater?I agree might be the headlight motors,draining the battery (disconnect the single power wire to the right and left headlight and see if it holds a charge).
Harbor freight sells a $10 tester with L.E.D. lights or take it in (you'll probubley want to charge it first).If the battery is good,then it's your headlight motors or the alternater.Look at your car at night to see if you have any interior or exterior lights on (a seperate problem).