Make that, "fixed the idiot lights". I took a tiny drill bit and
drilled right thru the plexiglass and into the led's and killed them!
Nah, I went down to the local starter/alt guru and had him bench test
the alt and it tested perfect. So I dejectedly started to put it back
in when that little blue wire that I gave a rather short and cursory
inspection of last month started talking to me. Basically, when I
looked at that wire before, I foolishly thought that since the pretty
blue insulation was all soft and pliable and... intact, I thought
that it's contents should be also. Wrong... in this case, the
insulation is far more durable that the wire that runs inside it, duh.

So thanks every one for the assistance, I especially liked whoever
said, "when you hear hoof beats, think of horses".

Mark...