I forgot to write the moral of this story. If you're like me, you're always overcomplicating things. When you have an electrical problem like this you're hoping someone comes back and says "I had that exact problem in MY 1998 beige Montero and it was the secondary resistor plate in the dopwaggle that went bad. Happens all the time. Only costs $1 - replace that and you'll be all set!"

But the advice you really get is pretty boring. "Check grounds." "Check battery." Yawwwwn! You then go out, open the hood, glance at the battery cables, check for 12ish volts, jiggle em around a bit, and then proudly report back that "Battery and cables and grounds are good...what else could it be!?!? What about the dopwaggle and the microplate transistor?!?".

So novices like me - there's a reason the advice you get is often very basic. Sometimes you have to do some extra research to figure out what short statements like 'check grounds' truly involve. (But if this alternator dies in short order I hope you guys will finally admit to the known manufacturing defect in the dopwaggle.) Thanks all. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />