Was: Re: quattro Digest, Vol 51, Issue 44, but we're talking about "lock carriers"

[John Larson]

You said, in part: 

"FWIW, my Cadillac Escalade looks like it might need an alternator soon (at
only 85,000 miles since I purchased it new).  Starting to drop voltage
occasionally at low RPM.  The beauty?  Right on top of the engine.  Probably
a 10 minute job, including getting the tools.  Special tensioner tool?  1/2"
breaker bar (or ratchet).  Sometimes (and I hate to admit this), I really
admire American engineering."

You mean like the "American engineering" that uses the engine ECU as the voltage regulator?
That engineering?  I dunno if GM does this, but you'd better be real sure the alternator's the problem before you spend the bucks ............  

On the flip side, there's the big BMWs with the alternator right out there where you can get to it.  Of course it's water cooled and costs more than your house (and it has an abysmal failure rate ............

John