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It shouldn't. Here's how this works: the generator has a armature of wire coils, which spins inside another, fixed, set of wire coils. The fixed field coils are energized by the battery so they become electromagnets, and the current for this passes through the generator light. When you switch on the key, the current flows through the light, as there's 12.5v on the battery side, and 0v on the field coil side, so the light comes on brightly. Start the engine, and the armature is now spinning inside the electromagnets, which generates a current in the armature coils. This is regulated to 13.5-14v by the voltage regulator, and passed to the battery. This means the voltage in the field coils rises to 13.5v, and the voltage at the battery is 13.5v, so there's 0v across the generator light bulb, so current flow stops, and it goes out. The field coils are now "self-exicted" through the generator. If the belt fails, or the generator brushes fail, or the battery fails, or SOME wires become disconnected, then there will be a voltage difference across the generator light bulb again, as current will stop flowing from one side or the other, current will flow again, and the bulb will turn back on. It will glow dimly if, instead of outright failure, there's too much resistance on one side (can be caused by a bad battery, or a flaky connection), as this will limit current on one side only and generate perhaps a 2-3v difference across the bulb. If the bulb burns out and never lights up, then the generator will never begin charging, and you'll be running on battery power until it's all gone, then you stop. So, if the light DOESN'T come on with the key before you start the engine, you need to check the bulb and the wiring to it. --- "Gamboa, Gary" <Gary.Gamboa@sylvania.com> wrote: > >That's all normal. > > does the GEN lighting up for a second at shut off mean anything? > > Gary > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > __________________________________ Yahoo! Mail Mobile Take Yahoo! Mail with you! Check email on your mobile phone. http://mobile.yahoo.com/learn/mail