All,

I am curious about the behavior of my alternator.

Long story short it died Friday night, wife & son in car after a 90 mile round trip. They made it home on it's own power. Sat AM, I jumped it and got it up to the garage, voltage guage dead. Pulled it and pulled the brushes, which "cupped" for lack of a better word. Checked prices for complete alt and brushes alone and went to my local AZone to have it checked although I was sure it was dead. It put out 1.5 volts and was screeching like a banshee, bearings shot. They didn't have one in stock ($200 and 3 days), so I went to the phone book and found one for $150 (Pep Boys). All is well now.

Here's the main question, my voltage guage now is right at 12 V, before the failure it was closer to 14 V. Was this increased reading because of the bearing play? Like I said I am just curious and watching out for further problems.

Thanks, Art
87 740 Turbowagon
73 1800 ES
94 !@#$%^& Jetta