Never disconect your battery with the vehicle running. If the voltage
regulator was not bad, there is a good chance it is now. The battery is
needed as a load to work propprly. Clearlly your battery is bad.

            Eric                   86-VW4x4
            vw4x4@fyi.net          72-240z
            Pittsburgh, PA USA     1936-Chrysler

On Fri, 3 Dec 1999, Alan Bosch wrote:

> It was 10 degrees here in Rochester this past Wednesday.  Went out to start the
> bus and no go.  Battery dead.  Jump-started, ran well.  Got to work, shut off,
> tried to restart, and nothing.
>
> Last night tried to do a little investigation in to why this might happen.
> Jump-started again & ran fine.  Looked into engine bay to confirm that the
> alternator was turning - yes.  Removed battery cable from positive battery
> terminal - engine still ran.  Shut off engine, reconnected cable, and tried to
> restart - dead.
>
> Battery was purchased new May 99.  Alternator is original.  Any ground points I
> could find were cleaned 11/26.
>
> My questions:  Where is alternator output voltage measured?  Where is the
> voltage regulator?  I always thought it was part of the alternator.  Does this
> sound like a bad battery cell, a bad voltage regulator, or time for an
> alternator replacement?
>
> Alan Bosch
> & Phred ('88 Wolfsburg)
> Rochester, NY
>