1997 SE Bonnieville. Battery kept dieing, found loose wire at the alternator. Tightened it, after that the car would start but sometimes it would hesitate. This last time it wouldn't start and t

My first thought was that when he replaced the alternator, he tightened up the bolt that holds the wire on too tight, snapping off the wire on the inside, these are to be only snug, not really tight. I now would have to say that the alt is grounding out on the inside, causing a short between battery hot and ground, which means charge sometimes, sometimes not with the shortcut wire on. Check to make sure your battery is in good condition and will hold a charge. Do not tighten that wire down real tight, its easy to break off. Once the lock washer flattens out, give 1/16 of a turn, no more.

Check the connections from the battery. Loose battery terminal, corroded wires, loose from other end of wires. Simply trace it back, more that likely loose on starter end

Place a voltmeter on the battery and read it before and after it starts. If it shows an increase in voltage, then the alternator is working. The voltage goes down as the battery becomes fully charged. Many garages will check it for free.

Make sure that the negative and positive leads to your battery are not switched. If that doesn't work you might need a new computer.

had same trouble with a 95 bonneville had to replace the computer to fix it.

run a wire from the back of the alternator off of the stud in back of alternator to battery positive post.
I have done this before on chryslers the ammeter in dash burns out and it does not charge battery no more.
By running wire from back of alternator it will charge the battery.

sounds like the alternator is bad again. Can you take it off and have it tested?

Unless you have good jumper cables it would start easy since I didn't get in on the begining of this I will assume you have a bad connection tothe starer or a bad starter if it drags.

Alternator OR Drive belt to the Alternator Loose

I've put in hundreds of alternators sometime a new one doesn't work properly you heed to check the voltage output of the vehicle running to see if it's charging or simple remove the negative battery cable while the vehicle is runnig, if it keeps running the alternator is working if it's dies it's not but you need to know the voltage output most vehicles it's 13.5 min.