OK, so this has been a really difficult and upsetting last couple of weeks. I am so frustrated and confused. This is a continuation of the thread titled, "replace alternator question", but it has got so out of control since the last time I posted something, that it now is in a new realm of insanity. But if you're really bored and interested you can go read that entire thread for background.

12 days ago on Sunday afternoon, after everything I had written up to that point - the battery / charging system warning light lit up on the dash. I figured I might only have 5-10 minutes so I found a spot to pull over (of course this happened on the worst day of the week when all the repair places were closed and the parts stores closed early). I had read and watched everything there was I could find about how to deal with replacing the alternator and getting the belt on and off. I walked to the nearest parts store, bought a new alternator, got back to the car, got the old one out and the new one in in about 10 minutes - then spent the next 4 hours trying repeatedly to get the belt back on. The first 2 hours were using the tire iron/pry bar that I had, pushing down on the metal part of the tensioner and each time I got close, it would slip off and my left arm, and left hand would get destroyed, cut, sliced, bruised, broken, etc....while the pry bar would fly down and smash into the crankshaft or whatever else was in its path. I was covered with blood, lost any strength in my left arm, had a badly bruised left rib and was exhausted. So I walked back to the parts store to see if they had a s-belt tool to loan out. No. How about one to buy? No. Walked to the next-closest parts store another 1/2 mile away - same results except the sold me one for $30. All the way back to the car, didn't work. The 3/8 inch drive thing was bent so that it wouldn't fit in the hole. All the way back for a different one then back to the car. Wouldn't work - not enough clearance before hitting the motor mount. Finally I had to give some guy walking past $20 to push down while I tried to pull the belt around the new alternator. But even though I warned him not to put the bar against the plastic pulley - I couldn't see the damage from this until the next day with a big chip out of it and who knows what else or what other damage from where the guy pushed. Anyway, finally after 6 hours, in the dark - the car started. And......loud, terrible grinding noise. And.....same voltage drop as was happening with the previous alternator. All that expense, pain, disaster, etc....for nothing. Except now I am stuck with my old (working?) alternator in the trunk, a new alternator that sounds like the bearings are shot in the car, no way I can possibly go through that nightmare again physically with the belt - and I still have the original problem. So yesterday, I go to have my battery and this new alternator checked. The guy puts a new, tighter positive battery cable bolt on - and says that was probably the cause of the whole problem. Tests everything - all is well (except grinding noise is still terrible) - and tells me to drive around and see what the situation is.
No change.
So here it is 12 days later, I can't use my left hand and my ribs are so bad I am wondering if I cracked one. Can't figure out how one person by themselves is supposed to get the belt on if you can't raise the car, and don't want to remove the engine mount, and the special tool won't work on this model (2001 Cavalier 2.2 5-speed manual with a tensioner).
All of these electrical problems started 3 weeks ago when I connected two test lead wires to the battery to crawl under the car and test the cooling motor because at that time, I didn't want to go through the trouble of taking it out and buying/installing a new one if the motor wasn't the problem. Two things happened or changed at that time that I want to ask your options about:

1. the test lead wires touched each other when blown together by the wind, creating a spark.

2. When I put the cooling fan motor connector back on after clipping them onto the motor (no activity, so figured the motor was indeed bad), I intentionally left the connector slightly out of the plug, so that when I put the new motor in I wouldn't have to deal with prying the plastic clip off that thing again. So I just left it pushed mostly-in, but not so far that the cllip snapped into place. got it?

Could have or would have one or both of those things caused the last 3 weeks of battery / alternator / voltage-drop / flickering lights / blower-motor-speed fluctuations, etc...? And what component or components would it have affected? Battery? Alternator? PCM/computer? Other than the positive battery bolt which was so loose the guy just literally pulled it off by hand - before replacing it - all other connections seem to be good and tight and clean everywhere. So can someome provide some ideas? I am going nuts with this problem and I hate to have to take the car into a shop and pay $400 to put yet another new alternator in the car, after having already gone through 2 of them, had everything tested as "good" spent the money and suffered the pain of what I've already done.

Thanks for reading and any suggestions.