Ok so I got the idler pulley back on and have driven back and forth to work a few times...About 50 miles at around 60 mph...So far so good but let me back up a bit...Some may remember on Thanksgiving night we broke down on our way home...The idler pulley took a crap and threw the belt...Being on the highway with traffic all around and no safe place to pull over with my family I would hit neutral and shut off the engine and coast for a while,fire it back up etc. maybe a mile or so till I found a safe place...The engine would get hot but not into the red...It did puked a little coolant but not bad...
So anyway, I topped off the coolant after I got the new pulley on and twice now it got warm again...The needle pointed straight up...I know its not real hot and it hasn't puked again bit its more than its normal temp...So I'm wondering if maybe I have an air pocket or something? Am I not doing something when I top it off?
OK, problem number 2...Twice leaving work I start down the road and my check gauges light bings and lights up and the amp gauge drops all the way down...I hit neutral, shut off the engine, restart and the gauge points straight up...A few minutes later it does it again, same thing...All together it may have done it 4 or 5 times in the beginning of my 30 minute ride and then it was fine the rest of the way home...Today it did it once and was fine all the way...So whats the deal?....lol....Anyone?...

 

maybe due to your engine getting very hot it may have done some damage to the thermostat causing it to stick in the closed position then after a while of driving it popps open allowing your coolant to flow. also it may have done some damage to your coolant temperature sensor, and it could be reading wrong causing your check engine to light up.
and with your battery, when your belt came off, your engine was running straight off your battery and not the battery while being charged continuously, so you may have a bad battery now, i would take it in to get it tested for a load.

 

the temp gauge needle straight up is a perfectly acceptable place for it to be, mine runs just a very very tiny bit left of straight up, it probably was there before and you are just more closely watching it now.

+1 on the battery, however i would start w/ checking connections, to the battery and alt (the gauge you are talking about is the voltage gauge not an amp gauge)

 

Thank you for your input...The engine runs cool almost all the way home which takes about 30 minutes...Then starts to warm up more than normal but not hot...
When the belt came off, it didn't run long enough to damage the battery and the check engine didn't and hasn't come on...The check gauge light did when the amp/voltage gauge went down...



Here in Texas the engine should reach its normal operating temp within the first few minutes not after driving 20-25 minutes... That's why I'm wondering if there's maybe an air pocket that needs to be burped out...

 

an air pocket would likely cause it to heat up faster, not slower.

 

if the voltage gauge keeps bottoming out and then you shutting it off, it may be moving a wire that could be grounding itself out causing it to drop so fast, and having you stop and shutting it off may be repositioning the wire causing it to read correctly. so id check your connections and trace any wires connected to the battery that might be running thru the fire wall and any wires that run allong the frame. they may be grounding themselfs out.
and your temp issue, sorry i miss read above. if its not reaching temp early enough and staying cool for a longer period of time. your thermostat may be stuck in the open position, constantly allowing coolant to flow, and that may be caused to your belt coming off and not allowing coolant to flow over heating your thermostat and freezing it in an open state.