Generator has wrong polarity?

My battery died and while I was troubleshooting I found the generator is not charging actually its going the other way? I remember hearing about generators doing this on old 50's - cars but hadn't had it happen to me. The old guys said hit the battery terminal on the reg and the arm wire together for a second to reverse the polarity. It didn't work. Thought you guys might know what's happening here.

Here's a site that'll tell you how to check and polarize the generator.

http://www.nls.net/mp/volks/htm/gen.htm

Good Luck. Let us know how it turns out.

is the generator light supposed to be on when the car is running?

No!

The generator light is probably the most critical light on the dash. It does a lot more than just tell if the charging system is working.

Since the cooling fan is driven off the front of the generator, when the light comes on IMMEDIATELY PULL OVER AND SHUT THE CAR OFF!

It can mean a couple things. Maybe it's just a battery, regulator or generator problem, but more often than not, it comes on because the fan belt breaks, comes loose or is slipping. When that happens there's no cooling, which translates into a fried engine.

The 2 lights (oil pressure and generator) should come on when you turn the key to the "run" position. And go out once the engine starts. Never run without these lights properly working. (Unless you've installed quality gauges)

To ignore them usually results in an expensive lesson.

He's right, never run the car with either one of those lights on, and it sounds like your regulator is shot. Your options are to get a replacement regulator, or what I recommend is trading that bad boy for an alternator with an internal regulator, then you'll illiminate external regulator, and avoid that thing setting your car on fire due to loose connections... which happens plenty... All you'll have to do is either swap to an electric fuel pump if you want to w/ a block off plate where the mechanical one used to go, or swap out the fuel pump actuator rod.. that's probably not the right name for it, but get the one for an alternator... it's shorter, and you'll have to get a mechanical fuel pump for an alternator also... the sealed kind instead of the ones with gaskets are better anyway to avoid leakage. Removing the fan shroud and generator is pretty straight foreward.

All you'll have to do is either swap to an electric fuel pump if you want to w/ a block off plate where the mechanical one used to go, or swap out the fuel pump actuator rod.. that's probably not the right name for it, but get the one for an alternator... it's shorter, and you'll have to get a mechanical fuel pump for an alternator also... the sealed kind instead of the ones with gaskets are better anyway to avoid leakage. Removing the fan shroud and generator is pretty straight foreward.

you -have- to get an electric fuel pump if you switch to an alternator? Im in the middle of making this switch so I'd really like to know if there are more parts I need to buy...and if I am making a mistake by only replacing the generator.