alternater?

my car has been acting very funny. last night when i was driving home all of my interior lights turned on and off by itself. then my cd player kept turning on and off by itself. when i turned the fog lights off, it would stop. later on the cd player would cut off when i would hit the breaks. tonight when i was pulling up to my house, my battery light came on and all of my lights got dim. my volt gauge flatlined. i tried to start it after i turned turned it off and it was dead. i know its not the battery because i just got it not long ago. im guessing its the alternater, but is there a forsure way to know? thanks, Phil.

Sounds like a loose wire to me. Check your battery cables both at the battery and where they connect to the rest of the electrical system. If it was the alternator your lights would still work because the battery would provide the voltage at that point.

my lights did work, but dimmed. then i noticed the volt gauge at 0. when i get time and day light, im gonna check it all out.

That is the same thing that happened to me about 2 weeks ago. My radio would turn off then come back on, my lights became very dim. Could barely see the road and it died right when I pulled in the driveway. I thought it might be lose wires so I checked the battery cables and they were making good contact. So I replaced my alternator and they work perfect now. No dim lights or radio turning off. Of course it cost $140 to replace it and that is with returning the core which has a $50 dollar core charge.

thats ecaxtly what im thinking now. thanks

http://www.club-s12.org/board/showthread.php?t=8473

exact same symptoms as yours geoff except my belt is tight. after finals i can get some time to look at it and see what is really going on. thanks for the thread.