OK, so I left state college, pa this morning at 8am, hoping to be at my girlfriend's house before her parents got home. I had to give up on that plan when this happened. . .i was roughly 10 miles away from home when the radio quit, the gauges sort of worked (temp and gas both reading very low), the speedo was hanging at 65 when i was stopped, and the turn signal was faint and fast. I realized that somehting was wrong, pulled into a Sheetz, and got some gas (thinking my gas was low). after i got done, i went to start it, and it gave a weak crank and quit. I opened the hood, took a volt reading at the battery (12 Volts, on the nose), got back in and started it, no problem. Puzzled, I took another reading with the car now running. this one showed 11V, something I figured was not a good sign. WIth only 10 miles to go, I decided to give it a shot. I didn't make it more than 10 feet before the engine stalled and I had to push it into a parking spot. Triple A got a call from me, and the next two hours were spent waiting for the tow truck, talking to my parents, girlfriend (she tried to help me figure out what was wrong by asking me about various random parts that she new the names of), etc. Now, 5 hours later, I'm at home, car in the garage, wating for my dad to come home with a new alternator.

SO, after that rather long paragraph, here are the questions. You will have 30 minutes to complete them. Eyes on your own paper.

Did i make the correct diagnosis? (alternator shit the bed)
What might be wrong with it? (brushes were replaced last march, the fins got a little chewed up by a loos tensioning bolt this summer)
Any recommendations on brand? Either way, we're probvably going with whatever is the cheapest at Advance Auto Parts

I'll probably replace the thing, then try to fix the old one to have as a spare, since I doubt they'll take it as a core with the damage done to the fins.


Thanks
Mike