Generator light stays on when Ign. is in off position then goes out when Ign. is turned to on position. Battery goes dead over night. Any ideas?

That is what the light is supposed to do. It turns on when voltage drops below 10.5VDC (I believe). Probable cause of dying battery is most likely a short somewhere else. Buy an ammeter or voltmeter and check your fuses to see where power is being consumed. Might not be a bad idea to pick up a cheap set of gauges from a parts store (bought mine for $35 from autozone and came with voltmeter, oil press, and temp gauge and all the fittings). One presumable cause if its not a fuse related problem is a short in the ignition switch or maybe a light constantly staying on... Hope this helps...

Actually, that's not what it's supposed to do. The light should be out when the ignition is off. Maybe the diode pack is shorted out inside the alternator. On the Alt, there should be a plug with 2 wires in addition to the heavy gauge charging wire. Pull the plug out. The light should go out... see if the drain on the battery stops. If it doesn't go out, there's something shorting into the gen warning light somewhere in the harness.

ssr is correct one of the diode's in the triple trio is bad. Time for a new alt. or rebuild that one.

my mistake...misread post... easy to confuse one prob with another... my bad... Thanks SSR

Well I unpluged all the wires to the alt. and voltage reg. and the light still stays on.
Could it be a bad key? When key is off light is on radio won't work, key on acc. radio won't work light still on, key is in on position radio works light goes off. When key is in off position blinkers work, blower works, ect.

I believe the normal correct sequence is : The gen light will turn on when the key is turned to start, when the car starts and runs, the light is off. On my car w/ a new engine the PO left the idiotlight harness dangling and it was shorting.

You may need to view a electrical diagram for that year, to get an idea of how it's wired. That year has the separate regulator like you mentioned, but if you unhooked it, the problem lies someplace else. Did you unhook all the wires on the regulator ? Part of the regulator is a reverse-current relay, which connects the alternator when the engine starts, and if it sticks, like welded points, the battery will run down from being still connected to the alternator field etc....

Maybe someone here has a diagram ??

If I remember right, if the diode is bad the large wire on the screw on post terminal on the alternator has to be removed to make it go out. The two prong plug on the alternator won't affect it. The diodes keep the current from feeding from the batery through the alternator to ground, it will only let it go TO the battery when they are functional.

un plug the regulator on the core support the light should go out.if not you have a cross feed somewhere

..It almost sound like someone mess with the ing.wires to the ing.switch and got them crossed...:dontknow: