so i messed up.. i was replacing the battery cable terminals with new ones and got it all ready.. put the battery back in and hooked it up.. but, i got the terminals backward... i know i know, im an idiot (the orientation of the terminals made me put it in the car that way, otherwise the terminals woudlve been hidden up under the side engine grille.. i didnt even check the the symbols...)

so.. my "generator" light remains on with the battery disconnected ( i have it disconnected for now ).
the haynes says i "fried my regulator points".. i have no clue what that is and i have a feeling i just created myself a lot of work and money...

how hard is it to replace these "regulator points" and where do i go to purchase it/them?

spare me the lecture, already got it from my dad lol...

The voltage regulator is mounted with (2) screws to the regulator panel. The regulator panel is mounted on the drivers side of the engine compartment.

It isn't hard.

Hopefully that is all you "fried".

Good luck with it.

Hopefully you didn't fry a diode in the alternator, which it sounds like you did. Try the regulator from your other car first. Thats the easiest thing to do. If that doesn't fix your problem then it's your alternator.

Ugh. I did the same thing, by hooking up another car's battery that had the posts in a different orientation. Stupid-stupid-stupid!

Dollars to donuts your alt has fried diodes. Replacing it is not fun, but it is doable even by an idiot like me.

Make sure your new alt has terminal posts that are short enough not to short out on the cooling air cover! Often they have the posts too long.

I bought a new regulator too just to make sure.

-TH

The positive and negative posts on a battery are slightly different sizes. The ends do not fit right if you put them on the wrong post. You might have noticed that the first one that you put on didn't fit right. Trust yourselves as you're doing things, if it seems wrong that's because it is.

Charging system light on with the key off? Alternator is dead. Possibly the voltage regulator, as well.

Our original voltage regulators have "contact breaker points" inside them, like in the distributor, to turn the charging of the alternator on and off. Those are likely the "regulator points" that Haynes refers to.

But I'd bet that your alternator is fried.

--DD

damn...
sww914 you are exactly right, hindsight i was trying to force the neg terminal on... bah.. good advice that ill heed in the future

so.. is this gonna be a costly mistake and can the alternator be replaced without removing the engine?

any good recommendations on replacement alternators?

You can remove the alternator without removing the engine or the heat exchanger. Some of the heating ducting needs to be removed, in particular the heater valve and the attached ducting. You also need to remove some of the tin.

I found an alternator at the local VW shop. I tried FLAPS, but was given the wrong alternator, no way to put the cooling tin on the back end!

Here's a thread to help, thanks to McMark.

Alternator Removal Tech Thread

if i do have to replace the entire alternator.. what im thinking is using the one from my '76 for the green car (might be selling it soon so..) and putting a new one in the red car. are they all interchangeable between year models and what alternators are recommended and will bolt right up without modification?

ones ive found:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/PORSCHE-914...Q2em118Q2el1247

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Porsche-914...Q2em118Q2el1247

thanks for the help