LOL, Bob.
You know it really felt great to be able to talk to the owner and know exactly what he was saying to me. A few weeks ago I would have been totally baffled by anything he said concerning the charging circuit but I not only understood what he was saying but knew (or was 99.9% sure) that the circuit had been verified.
Once he came into the picture I was pretty sure I was going to get some satisfaction. It was just blind luck that he happened to be in the store and was willing to listen to all that I had done. Once he heard my tale of troubleshooting he was convinced that I wasn't totally in the dark and was interested in finding the problem.
Even though this hasn't been a plesant experience (at one point my wife told me to just take it to our mechanic for repair) it has taught me one very valuable lesson. If you go into a problem totally clueless you can and will fall for anything anyone tells you. Even though Charlie has been working on alternators, starters and generators for 22 years I knew that what he was telling me was wrong. He really is a pretty good guy but after so many years of doing these repairs he just wasn't really interested in hearing the whole story. Knowledge really is power and can end up saving you lots of headaches and money.
Well once again, literary diarrhea has taken hold of me. Why can't I just type a quick and simple reply?? :-)
Dave
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I dream of a world where a chicken can cross the road without having its motives questioned.