high resistance on a bad connection does make sense, but wouldn't that show up in other ways? i will start playing around.

with what little i know of charging systems, and the behavior of the car, the too much load thing didn't quite make sense either...

the shop i went to has a great reputation, and has been around for a long time. doesn't always mean anything, but a good start.

he did replace the stator, and it kind of looks like junk, so i don't know for how long i'm out of the woods. i checked out Powermaster, just waiting for a quote back.

but there is at least one member who rebuilds alternators, does anyone know who that is?