Quote:
Originally Posted by taiwan740
Yup, perhaps the alternator body isn't grounded after all, or I just got a crap ground when I did the test.
When I connect the small red wire, battery light and everything else works fine and it charges. Disconnected, it gets the same symptoms as before with the bad alternator.
I wonder if that ring connector on that cable was just a bit cruddy or something. I will bench test the old alternator somehow or something I guess.
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The alternator body should have a strap to connect it to the engine block to provide an earth path as the alternator is mounted with rubber bushes so is isolated from the engine.
Like Tony says, it's not the usual things to buy alternator rebuild kits here. Several reasons, you need specialist tools/kit for dismantling/rebuilding and also testing -
NO YOU CAN NOT DO IT ALL WITH A MULTIMETER! 
Also the cost of the rebuild kits works out nearly as expensive as a reconditionied unit which comes with a guarantee. Which would you choose - a rebuild kit to do it yourself and have no guarantee or pay a little more and get one already done with a warranty?
Also to find a rebuild kit, you'll need the Bosch part number, usually starts with " 0 120" and is 10 digits in total. The Volvo part number isn't a great deal of use sadly, Volvo (in common with many other manufacturers) applied their own part numbers to units that met the specification they wanted. With some car manufacturers, the same part number was used regardless of the original manufacturers! For example, a Ford alternator might have a particular part number but could have been made by Motorola, AC Delco, Lucas, Bosch, Marelli, Magnetti-Marelli or FoMoCo.
The Ford example is an extreme but others used 2 or 3 different manufacturers but with the same part number for the customer.