while i was driving along today my battery voltage gauge suddenly peaked up to the maxwhen i pulled over as soon as i started getting slower it dropped back down to normal and the rest of the way home it stayed normalwould a short somewhere have caused this?i had been using cruise control but im not sure if i had it engaged when it happenedmaybe it was the cruise control and once i slowed down causing it to disengage it returned to normal?

Check the green wire between the alternator and the PCM for shorts to ground. If this wire shorts to ground the alternator will run wild at max voltage...

Ok after trying an external voltage regulator with no luck I had the alternator tested and it was doing some screwy things New alternator in and I've got only 12v reading in the gauge and after a few minutes it drops to Zero with no effect on brightness of lights --- I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=42.674987,-84.075746

Ok after trying an external voltage regulator with no luck I had the alternator tested and it was doing some screwy things New alternator in and I've got only 12v reading in the gauge and after a few minutes it drops to Zero with no effect on brightness of lights --- I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=42.674987,-84.075746

explain this again? what is the voltage reading on the battery terminals when idling? are you sure the grid heater solenoids are not stuck closed? i dealt with a similar issue of zero on the batt gauge...

It's 12v and drops down a bit when what im assuming is the grid heater kicking on and then back up to 12v The alternator is remanufActured in china and another guy said he had two bad ones from autozone before the 3rd finally worked --- I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=42.593041,-83.937765

that new alternator is hosed. you should have around ~14vDC on the battery terminals with grid heaters off. it will drop to ~12vDC when the grid heater kicks in. I have checked this with a meter on the terminals with these results and grid heater cycling.

Ok good to hear but also frustrating.... I guess the sticker that reads "performance tested" doesn't mean anything I assume they're rebuilt on an assembly line and only some are actually bench tested --- I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=42.661844,-84.073543

My 140amp alternator fuse is blown... Makes sense since my old alternator was overcharging .... Now i can't find the proper fuse --- I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=42.659692,-84.077418

I can get the fuse tomorrow how safe woul I be to run a straight link until then... I only have to drive a short ways