[wwest]

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

Found the battery completely dead on Dec 30 when I went to prep the car for the New Year's Day run.
Disconnected the ground cable, hooked up battery charger, let it sit for a day at @6-7 amps.
Checked it in the afternoon of that day and found two cells low on electrolyte, I know, not good.
Next day decided to try to start car anyways as battery showed 12.6v.
Car started fine, went for a drive.
Shut it off when I got home and the red light came on with the key off. Figured that was why the battery went dead.
Put new battery in, hooked it up and red light is on.
Everything I've read says the diodes are bad in the alt when red light is on, key off.
So I pull alternator out. Have it tested, it is good (whew!).
If I re-install the known good alternator and hook up the new battery and red light is on, should I try to start the car and see if that clears the red light on when I shut it off, or do I stand a chance of hurting the alternator?
Just to make things interesting the car has an UNGO box, but, it has never caused a problem.
Help?

For some reason your regulator is suppying current flow to the alternator rotor slip rings key on or off. Plus side of the charging light/resistor is always connected to the battery but complete circuit is normally provided by the regulator only with ignition switch on.