'60 Bug Won't Start After Stopping

[Amskeptic]

One last tidbit to amuse everyone.

The outside of the lamp, the socket, is your (+) to the idiot light. This is true of the oil idiot lamp as well. That means that your ground (-) is the actual wire that plugs into the lamp. So:

Turn on the ignition (if I am correct, your gen light is not going on).
Ground the wire at the gen lamp with a piece of spare wire.

Lamp now on? Good, follow that wire back to the voltage regulator and make sure it is securely attached.

Lamp not on? Swap bulbs with a known good bulb.

Lamp still not on? Check for proper (+) at the shell/socket back of cluster. Sometimes VWs have a little black wire bridge between the oil light and gen light base plates (which you now know must be insulated from actual ground metal in the vicinity). If the gen mounting plate/socket is inadvertantly grounded, you would have no idiot light at ignition, AND the alternator would indeed work perfectly when the car is running.
Colin

[Jays60rag]

Sometimes I can't believe what comes up with these things. During my troubleshooting I tested 3 different light bulbs. There were two brand new ones and one old one which I was absolutely certain worked. None of the three bulbs worked. I had eliminated that as a possibility a while ago. Well, I took the advice of Colin in the most recent posting. I switched bulbs with the one that illuminates the speedometer. I then had a working idiot light and a non-working speedo light. The problem was obvious then. I put another light bulb in and it all works now. I am elated, but also a bit annoyed. I wonder what was happening when those bulbs did not work before. Well, I will enjoy the operable idiot light. It is kind of like a Christmas light. Thanks for all of your help.