G'day All, little red 'G' light has come on and sure enough the engine stops if I remove a battery terminal.

The battery shows the same 12v running or not and all wires seem to be in place.

are there any tests i can do to determine if its a alt or a regulator issue as id hate to buy a brand new second hand alternator and find it to be the voltage reg or vice-versa

if you can get the battery charged and you have mulitmeter hook it up, and get a buddy to turn over the motor while you watch the meter if it drops a lot battery stuffed and when the engine is running use the meter to see what volts are being made should be 13.5 to 14
good luck

battery good, 12.17V when running. I think vw resource will set me straight. wouldn't you know it my whipper snipper has lost spark now, I'm sure they're colluding against me out there in the back yard.

Ooops I have a generator

for anyone else needing this info: http://www.nls.net/mp/volks/htm/gen.htm