dead short locations

[yota]

ok i tried the test light it doesnt go on. if the car is running and i disconect the battery the car dies. all 3 wires on the alternater have power. is there a votage regulater any were besides the internal one in the alternater? i checked all the fuses they are good is there a relay or somthing else that tells the alt to charge?

here is whats going on every time i start the car the raido has reset itself so the constant power wire no longer has constant power. the insterments work 1/3 of the time when they dont the car starts but nothing on the dash works. i checked the battery its still good but if i drive it 30+ miles the car quits and its due to the alternater not charging. i am at my wits end every one i take to is stumped. i really dont want to take it to a shop at $60 an hr so any sugestions will be greatly appriciated.
Modified by yota at 8:46 PM 4/20/2008

[h.240]

One way to find where a short is by disconecting you negative battery cable and using a test light to check if there is current flowing between the cable and the battery post. If there is a short in the wiring the light will come on, if there isn't then it won't. Now, pull out every fuse in all three fuse boxes, and check if the light is still on (it shoudn't be). Then replace each fuse one by one until you see the light come on. When the light comes on that means the short is in that section of wiring somewhere and you have to trace those wires and check for a short. The wiring diagrams can be found in the FSM and help out a lot when doing this.I found my short to be faulty wiring by the previous owner. He installed a security system and completely hacked up the wiring. He also did the same trying to install a CD player.