95 Electrical follow-up

Well, knew I had to take out alternator anyway, so I replaced it but STILL puts out over 18v when 1st started - wasted 1 day and $130+ :mad:

Noticed that when voltage drops below 17.3, SES goes out and tranny's fine. Also noticed that at night if I'm at idle and press brake pedal, voltage will drop down (lights dim a bit) to about 15v with SES going off, then if I let off brake, volts go right back up and SES lights up (once it gets past 17.3). :eek7: :uhoh:

Went to ADVANCED AUTO & pulled 4 codes - #24 - VSS short circuit, #60 - cruise engaged w car not in dr, #P0117 - QDSM #3 output open or shorted, and #P0131 - knock sensor prblm.

I'm convinced my tranny problem (SES w 2nd gear only "limp mode") is directly related to over voltage. Sooooo . . . :confused:

1) Does the PCM in any way control voltage and this my problem?

2) is the VSS short and/or QDSM (what's this ?) short causing the alternator to "compensate" and output too > voltage ?

Please help me and put me out of my misery before I go "postal" and put the car out of it's misery. :screwy: :lol:

Found out by pure chance that the voltage problem was caused by a faulty battery terminal sensor (red plastic snap-on terminal cap that apparently sends data to PCM). The colder the ambient (battery) temperature was, the more voltage the sensor was telling the alternator to put out. Disconnected it and voltage now runs normal. The only side effect is the "check charging system" message now displays on dash computer (I just clear it each time I start up) - no other apparent effects. As I suspected , this cured the SES w 2nd gear only "limp mode" problem. Ahhhhhhhh :)