I recently had some starting issues with my 88 firebird, and when i climbed under the car to check the starter (wasnt the problem, starts fine now) i found a wire disconnected and hanging, i believe its the "S" wire coming from the alternator. I had been noticing a weak charge at the gauge when i have the headlights and such going at night and thought i might need to replace the alternator eventually, would this disconnected wire be the culprit? it doesnt seem to have been connected for a while, the eye hook on the end is dirty and i havent lost any other wires.

 

The alternator charge wire is pretty big- 10ga, if memory serves. If it wasn't connected you'd have a dead battery pretty quick. I would think you'd notice something like that.

There are really only 2 eyelet sizes that hook up to the starter. The little bitty purple wire one (that goes from the igntion key to the S terminal on the starter to activate it when you turn the key) and everything else that goes on the big + battery cable lug.

Also down in that vicinity is a knock sensor wire on some carb engines and all EFI engines, but the end is totally different than anything that goes to the starter.