it was the right size battery. in any case that was not the problem. I bought a new MAF from eBay and the car has been running great.

 

Anyone know if a voltage regulator can fail intermittently? I had my alternator tested and it said my voltage regulator failed. Then the battery died. I charged it up, removed the voltage regulator, cleaned it from some grease and replaced it since it looked to be in good condition. Then I ran a cable from the positive terminal of the battery to the positive cable connection at the alternator. The car started and drove fine. I took the car back to orielly's and it initially said the voltage regulator failed. Then I restarted the car and had them retest the alternator and this time the voltage regulator passed. I wouldn't mind replacing the voltage regulator but I'm just wondering if I should replace the whole alternator or if that extra cable will solve all my electrical charging issues and I won't have to do anything else. Something seems to be intermittently failing in the charging system. If it's the cables and connections, I'm hoping this new cable takes care of that issue. When the car is off I have 12.6v. When it's on with no major electrical things on it's at 13.7v. When I turn the A/C on it drops to 13.1. Thanks in advance! I've learned a ton reading all the stuff on this forum.

 

Yes they can fail intermittently. You could also have an intermittent connection problem someplace too.

 

This this first happened I have done a couple things to my car.

One is replacing the voltage regulator on the alternator: Regulator Brush Holder Volvo 850 Series 2 3L 2 4L 4CYL Engine 1996 1997 | eBay

The second is adding an extra positive cable from the battery terminal to the alternator with a fuse in the middle.

Since doing those two things I have not had the issue that I first posted about. I think it was the voltage regulator that was intermittently failing. Hope this helps someone. Thanks for all the responses.