Turned out that Lummert was on to something. The ground to the alternator had, indeed, become disconnected. The ground wire had been tucked in around the B+ connecter so that it felt that it was connected. A little more fiddling and it broke free. Prior to reconnection of ground to engine: battery v...

Checking that next. Will keep you all posted.

All, I recently bought my kid a 1993 Volvo 240 Wagon as his first car. He loves it and we feel relatively safe that he's driving. That said, we continue to have problems with stalling engines and dead or dying batteries. I just returned from a 16 mile limp home with it after finding the battery dead...