Appears that there is problem with wiring inside generator, which might explain why the amp light wouldn't go out when I hooked up my old gen/ voltage regulator system.. Took thing apart, and found possible problem. Curious if this could be cause of failure.

I took pic of setup on red wire DF to show how it's supposed to be (I think). There are 2 round fiber washers which are positioned on outside of metal generator housing. The rectangular fiber washer (see yellow arrow) is positioned on inside of metal housing.

However, things aren't looking the same where threaded metal bolt (connected to blue wire D+) passes through hole on generator body. The 2 round fiber washers are there on ouside of body, BUT rectangular fiber washer on inside of housing is missing. Could this cause problem? I'm assuming those fiber washers are there on both sides of metal housing for a reason.

I know exactly when the fiber washer disintegrated, had the once stripped bolt rethreaded at hardware store to allow nut to go on correctly. When guy handed me genny, I saw pieces of fiber washer fall off.