So I cleaned my engine today, simple enough right? Well I covered the distributor, fuse box, battery, and air intake. Didn't cover the alternator but I'm wishing I had now :-( I'm not having any problems with the engine as far as how it runs, but my battery is being overcharged and the gauges are going crazy. Either they're bouncing all over the place, or not working at all. The battery light will come on and the check engine (is on for another unrelated reason) stays on until a couple hours ago. The car was acting fine finally 3+ hours after cleaning, I started it, it drove fine, no problems at all except the battery gauge peaked once then went back down. So I drove it home (30-45mins) and NO problems. Cut it off then go out somewhere and on the way back home and bam the gauge peaks and then the gauges go crazy again, they stop working and even the Odometer isn't showing up. So I had to drive it home guessing on how fast I was going. Meanwhile the battery light stays on the whole time home. Luckily I was maybe 2mins from home but it was enough for the battery to leak out of the vents in the top of it. Ugh any ideas on what's wrong with my car, and/or how to fix it? Will letting it sit overnight help it any or am I looking at buying a new alternator?

 

First, disconnect your negative battery terminal(-) and leave it off for 5 min. or more.
Re-connect the battery terminal, fire the car up, see if it runs right.

Next, do you or one of your friends have a voltmeter? If not you may be able to take your vehicle to Autozone/Checker/etc. and have them test it. Tap that battery and see what she's charging at. If it's running above 14.2-14.6 volts while the engine is running your alternator may be running too high. Again, Autozone or Checker might be able to straight up check your alternator.

Good luck man!

 

So far I've tried the first part, I disconnected the negative terminal for about 10mins and it didn't seem to do anything. This morning when I started her up, once the car warmed up the gauge has gone straight into the red and stays there. When I hit the gas the gauges will cut off and the dome light will now too. The dome light didn't cut off last night like that. I'll be making a trip to autozone soon, but I'm not looking forward to it cause I'm sure the battery will leak again :-\

 

So it ended up being the alternator, but the engine makes a "sizzling"? noise for a few seconds when I cut it off. That noise started this morning but other than that she's fine..well other than the pre-existing issues :-\

 

If it's the sound I'm thinking of, it's normal. Couldn't hurt to have it checked out though.