Oops and wiring help

[r5gordini]

Hi all, to cut a long story short, I managed to connect up a battery charger to our T2 the wrong way round (with the battery disconnected). Eventually the battery went flat and then charged up backwards! I didn't realise until I connected it to the car, which then let the smoke out of the alternator. Oops.

I say "our" because it's my father's car and we work on it together. I don't think he's very pleased with me right now. I was only trying to help when I set up the battery charger! The battery had a red disconnect knob on the negative terminal which is what confused me.

Now, we have replaced the alternator but it's not working properly. We don't get an ignition warning light. We checked the wiring to the alternator. 12v reaches the + terminal on the regulator but not the light terminal. We think we've found the next point to check in the wiring loom but we're not sure. Is it the connector that is above the intercooler ducting? If so it's really strange as we get continuity to the + terminal on the regulator but not to the ign light terminal... We also get 12v on the ore side of the connector where the + is but nothing where we think the warning light should come from. We have tried grounding the warning light terminal but still no light.

Does anyone have any thoughts/suggestions?

Why the lack of a warning light? What could I have blown? Why no continuity from that connector to the warning light connector ont the regulator? Any thoughts are most gratefully received.

Thanks,

Andrew

 

[r5gordini]

Fixed it! It turns out that the wire for the warning light was broken just after the plug. Repairing this wire made the light work again and the alternator work properly. Then we found that the clutch was stuck on! Trying to start the car whilst it was in first gear, with a foot flat on the clutch eventually sorted that, and the car ran just fine.

Andrew