Hey y'all,

I've got an alternator that has a bit of a whine and is hot(!) to touch. Is it bad? Here's the background:

Last week: half and hour into drive, Volvo starts to loose power. She dies and I have to get a tow. I yank the alternator, have it tested, am told it's bad, and purchase a remanufactured Autolite from Schmuck's. Put it in, tested to see that I was getting a charge (just around 13.8), and was satisfied. Drove it about 600 miles without any problems.

Two nights ago, last five minutes of drive, my idiot lights start to slowly come on. Not full power, but there they were. I got home, turned off the car, turned it back on, checked the voltage at the battery with my voltmeter, was satisfied (13.8) enough to go inside and eat dinner.

Yesterday: two blocks from home, idiot lights start to fade in. This time I leave the engine on, attach my voltmeter to the battery, and see that it's drawing below 12. I swap the voltage regulator, drive it some more, same thing happens.

Today, troubleshooting: at idle, the voltmeter reads 13.8 or so, same as when I first put in the Autolite alternator. When I turn on the lights, the heater, etc., the reading goes down but does not come back up, going as low as 13.4. If I open up the throttle, the reading goes up a bit, then starts to bob around, and when I finally let off the throttle, there starts a small whine at the alternator and the reading drops steadily, eventually getting to below 12 (at which I turn off the car, not wanting to drain the battery)

At this point, I was prepared to yank the alternator and get it exchanged on warranty. Problem is, when I went to start pulling it out, I danged near burned myself on it! And I'm not talking terminals, here; I'm talking about the metal casing--very hot to touch.

From what I've been able to gather on Brickboard searches, my alternator may be gone...other opinions?

Can't thank y'all enough,
Bob