i had a problem with my check guages light staying half way illuminated ever since i bought the car a year ago. i have made numerous threads without many suggestions. one person in all the threads i made said his did that when his alternator was getting ready to go. well i figured that wasn't my problem since i have had the alt. checked 3 times on the vehicle and 2 times when i had the alt. out of the vehicle. every time i had it tested, i went to a different shop. i guess out of all these shops i went too, only one had a good enough machine to notice a problem. on every machine the alt. showed that it was charging exactly where it needs to and it also showed that the diodes were ok. one machine however had a red light on it and the light illuminated when my alt. was tested. they said this light is not suppose to be on. i decided what the heck, buy a new alt. to see if that turned my check guages light totally off while the car was running. that was my problem. the light is not half way on anymore. i am excited. i have no clue what could of been wrong with that alt. i am just warning everyone in case they ever have this problem.