2000 Metro poblem

recently while i was sitting letting my car warm up, my lights started dimming out, my radar detector started going off and my cd player would turn off and turn back on...but when i stepped on the gas everything would come back to normal...so i figured something was up with the battery/altenator...i went out and got a new battery and sure enough everything worked fine. but now about a month after i got that battery im having trouble again, my lights are dimming out when im not stepping on the gas...

my altenator seems like it is in line...and i had a new belt put on...could my altenator be bad? i started the car after i put the new battery in and then un hooked the battery terminal and let the car run just off the altenator and it ran fine so i dont think the altenator would be bad would it?

any help would be great

i took my car to Autozone today and had them do one of their free alternator tests, when the guy hooked it up and had me step on the gas, anytime we reved the car up over 800rpms it would stop giving a reading, they told me that it was because my alternator isnt putting out enough juice...this sound reasonable?

I went out and bought a new alternator and now im trying to figure out how to put it in...anyone have any advice? i tried to put it in, but it wont go from the bottom without taking off the exhaust. going from the top would be a huge pain too because of all the hoses and stuff. we took the airfilter system off but then there were vaccuum hoses and stuff like that everywhere, if i took em off there was still a chance it wouldnt fit. has anyone else ever changed an alternator on a 2000 Metro before? i really need some help here!

I went out and bought a new alternator and now im trying to figure out how to put it in...anyone have any advice? i tried to put it in, but it wont go from the bottom without taking off the exhaust. going from the top would be a huge pain too because of all the hoses and stuff. we took the airfilter system off but then there were vaccuum hoses and stuff like that everywhere, if i took em off there was still a chance it wouldnt fit. has anyone else ever changed an alternator on a 2000 Metro before? i really need some help here!

See "getting alternator out of engine compartment" post, may be some ideas to try there.