Generator light problems.

I recently put in a new alternator and before i did and after i can;t get my generator light to come on. ive looked over manuals and videos to see what could be wrong. and i cant get it to light up when i turn the key on. i can get it to light up when i hook ip up to a ground so i know the bulb is good. ive traced it from the alt, to the regulator, to the storage compartment. everything seems to be right but im no electrical genius. anyone had this problem before?

Is your new alternator the type with an internal voltage regulator? Or are you saying you have the type with the external regulator?

And when you say you got it to light up by hooking it up to a ground, are you saying you ran a separate ground wire to the bulb? Or did you disconnect the wire from the alternator/voltage regulator and touch that end of the wire to a good ground?

With an alternator it is very important that this light be working. If it does not work, the alternator will not charge!

just to be clear you do have an actuall alternator, and not a generator correct? I'm i'm guessing you mean the wires to the regulator under the seat correct? and if thats all true then u have an alternator with 3 wires, also correct? if all thats true, and u are certain all the wires are good, the regulator may have crapped out on you.

I went thru the same problems, and decided to just switch to an internal regulator. very easy to do. only one wire from the origional 3 prong connector goes connected to the 1 prong connector on the alternator (i wanna say its the green or blue wire, but i forget which, i'll get back to u on that), and as far as the wires on the old regulator, all the red ones go tied together, and the blue and green one connect together. thats it.

yes its a 75 amp alt. and the regulator is under my seat. its a bosch. and it has 3 wires and they are good. how did you switch to an internal regulator?

Alts come in two types. One had an external regulator like the type that comes from the factory. The other has the regulator internal to the unit and requires you bypass the factory regulator.

The old Motorola EXTERNAL units usually have a plastic box (regulator) attached to them...


The internal units don't have the box...


The internally regulated units DON'T use the regulator under the back seat.

post a pic of your alternator. Most of the new ones sold today are the internally regulated version.

If somehow you did get the type that requires the external regulator, you have to use an alternator specific regulator. The old one from your generator will not work with an alternator.

Also, if you do have an internally regulator alternator, Here's a diagram showing how it hooks up. There is a note at the bottom stating what to do with all the wires at the old voltage regulator under the seat.

I saw his alternator it looks like this
He will need to reconfigure his external under his seat. You can look here for more information http://www.vw-resource.com/alternator_wiring.html

Thanks guys. I just pulled my motor to replace the rear main seal so I'm gonna rewire it when I put it back in. Hopefully that will solve my issues. Also as far as setting the endplay how hard of a task is that?

Replacing the seal shouldn't affect your endplay.

basically what i said above, just splice all the red wires together. then the green wire to the blue one.

Of course you can always just rewire it instead of messing with the old wiring. I just tied the red's together, and it worked for a while but my wiring wasn't up to par (burned up, almost caused a fire), and eventually had to just run a new fat wire from the alternator to the battery (or starter it doesn't really matter)

BTW, the old bosch external regulator alternators don't have the big plastic box. they look identical to the internal units, except they have 3 prongs instead of just one (not counting the fat red cable). be absolutely sure yours just has the one prong before messing with the regulator.

Yeah. Mine just has the one prong. I bought the conversion kit from airheadparts.com and for the seal I can just take off the flywheel and everything, replace the seal, and put it all back together without worrying about adjusting anything? Maybe I just misread my vw manual but I just thought it said I'll have to reset the endplay when I put it back together

I've replaced several seals without any ill effects.

Thanks for the input. This is the first beetle I've ever had so I'm still learning as I go. Glad I live in a technology age where I can get all this help on the Internet lol

make sure you replace the o ring in the flywheel as well.

disregaurd the second part of the pic. this is where the o ring is in the flywheel, its easy to miss that, i forget it all the time

How important is it to replace it. When I ordered everything I didn't order one bc I didn't know if I needed to. And do you know the dimensions at all or where I can get them? That way I can just get napa to make one for me.

Get the correct part. You don't want to be pulling that engine again. Try the vendors listed here on the site to get one local.

Haha. Yeah, at least it's alot easier than pulling a 350 out of a lifted chevy. But hopefully I can find somewhere local to get one. I just hate paying 8 dollars for shipping on a 2 dollar part

Someone correct me if I'm wrong...but I think the engine gasket kits come with that flywheel o-ring. If so, you should be able to get that kit just about anywhere and you should have one on hand for spare seals in the future anyway. They're like 10 or 15 bucks.

I ordered one of those but it's all at davidson house and I can't get ahold of him. Umm try to stop by today and see if there's an o ring in it.

hey, so im messing with my bug again and i have all the wireing correct. i have an altenator with an internal regulator. i took out the old vr and spliced the wires together. does anyone have some pics of how the wireing should look behind the spedometer or any hints at getting my warning lights to come on when i turn the key on. i followed my gen wire up to my gen light, and am at a loss as to what to do next.