The Culprit

New Bosch voltage regulator

It turns out that something happened to the voltage regulator.  I have been running with the lights on as a safety measure and either that caused the regulator to go feet up or it was on its last legs and the constant strain finally killed it.

At any rate, Harold replaced it and the fuse strip because the heat was causing it to begin to melt.  The second fuse hadn't burned out completely but the heat was getting to it.  The repairs came to $127 and change and the car was ready to be picked up on Friday afternoon at about 14:30.  We had an early day, it was Commencement, and we were done by 14:00 so I headed out to Gene's to pick it up after I got home.  I left the truck at Gene's and took the car out to get a hair cut and for a short drive.  Everything is working great except that the horn has gone out now.  I'm not taking it back for that.  I will leave it as is and when I get the inspection done in September I'll have Harold fix it.

Harold said I should get LED lights which will draw less power and put less strain on the wiring.  I'm looking into it but change will be expensive.  I think I'm going to got with first replacing the sealed beams with Hella H4 Type headlights and then see if I can find LED bulbs to plug in later.  This may not work because of space restrictions in the light bucket but I won't know until I try.  I will, however, stop running the headlights at all times, just when I need them.

New voltage regulator

New voltage regulator