So here is what i did to try and figure out if its possibly the alternator/voltage regulator. I measured the voltage output as best as i knew how: I used a volt meeter and held the probes to the positive and negative terminal under the hood while the car was running i sat there for probably 5 minutes watching the volt meeter. Twice the voltage went way down almost to nothing. several times it fluctuated severely 5,6,7,8s. I then did a similar thing on my 01 540 it stayed in the low 14s never went down any lower then high 13s.

So would this mean that either my voltage regulator is bad or the whole alternator is bad? I don't think the whole alternator is bad its definitely charging the battery but the voltage regulator is a possibility.