damn you, Alternator! How I loathe thee!

[phaertes]

Oh, my tale of vehicular woe:

Smooth running 1995 Cavalier until recently. About a month ago I started getting an odd grinding sound coming from the front of the car, but ONLY when the engine was running at what I would estimate to be about 2500 rpm. Most prevalent in 1, 2, or 3rd gear.

All of a suddent the grinding went away, but was quickly followed by a slight hesitation when starting the vehicle. Didn't think much of it, but in hindsight, the battery was obviously losing power. Went to start the car today and nothing -- battery is dead.

The timing of the end of the grinding with the death of the battery is suspicious. Anyone heard of this happening? Could the grinding have been the alternator? I thought maybe bad bearings, but would bearings only grind intermittently?

Any input would be helpful! It would be nice to take the vehicle in with some idea of what I am looking at.

[phaertes]

Oh, and when the grinding stopped a couple of days ago, it was replaced by a whining, like an electric motor at high speeds, that would get higher pitched at higher rpm's.

[S_chevy]

I would say that you are on the right track with thinking it is the alternator that is were I woud start