Yikes, thanks for all the kind responses. After I pulled the generator AGAIN, I noticed that the brushes were DEFINITELY worn down; The braided cable which sticks out of each brush was resting on the bottom of the holder, presumably causing the brushes to arc to the commutator, resulting in the burned up crud I had to clean away. I cleaned all the connections and turned the brushes sideways and it works great! the lights are brighter than I've ever seen, and that was 1000 miles ago. I have now reached my destination and will tell the new owner about the brushes. Now it's time for phase two, piloting an 86 240DL back to Seattle from Minnesota. This is the leg of the journey I'm worried about; I know very little about the 240 series. Time to learn I guess.

Oh, and for the record, it WAS the Clymer book I had. I remembered it wrong.

Thanks again,

Ben in Minnesota
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