Thread: rough idle and bouncing rpm gauge

Could this be the alternator?

I check the alternator with a volt meter. When car is off the battery reads 12.8 volts and when its running I get14v for the first 5 minutes and it goes down to 12.8 to 13. It also does a lot of fluctuating on the volts, up and down. Also when i disconnected the positive cable on the battery it stalled. Is that normal on these cars?

Note: While this is doing that the headlights and dash lights also get dim.