waldo - yes, I should have mentioned battery disconnect, although knowing there's a serious shorting situation I assumed it wouldn't be connected .... OTOH, I would advise not having the battery hooked up under any condition while the reg/gen were out of the circuit, the main problem may just be that a loose wire is touching ground!!
also, looking back to the "bodyshop left the key in the on position on more than one occasion", the thought occurs that the problem could be a fried coil, which may be hooked to the wrong place anyway
Bill
