I've heard that pulling the battery cable (with engine running) on more modern cars isn't a good practice, but my guess is that it should be OK for an '84. That will very quickly tell you if the alternator is charging. My regulator went bad last year, causing my good alternator not to charge. Replaced it and now have appx. 14 v to the battery. Hope this helps.

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John Schroader
bio burnin' 83 300D, '83 300 SD, '79 240D
"I've never met a man who was good at making excuses who was good at anything else" Ben Franklin
"You cannot permanently help a man by doing for him what he could and should do for himself" Abraham Lincoln