I took off the serpentine belt and checked all the pulleys. The alternator turns with a lot more resistance than anything else. If I try to turn it by hand (say, by flicking the cooling fan on it with my finger), it stops within a quarter turn. I also get a "whine" sound when accelerating when the engine bay is hot.
Is this consistent with alternator bearing wear? How easy should the alternator be to turn by hand, with the car off and the belt disconnected. My past experience with cars is that normally the magnetic field resistance can be felt as you turn the pulley (several times as you go around), like with an electric motor, but in the case I have here the resistance to spinning is constant.
Anyone have experience with this? I've heard that these alternators run hot anyways. I do know that a hot bearing/shaft will have less clearance.
Oh, as an added thing, I could swear that the alternator makes a scrape- scrape sound when you start the car cold.