I started my '93 SSE with 137,000 miles this morning and I noticed the dash and headlights were much brigher than normal and my ABS and air bag warning lights were on (which never happens). When I pushed on the accelerator, it seemed like something was holding back the engine. Does this sound like my alternator could be going?

Thanks.

How many volts did the guage show? 14 is normal. The alternator wouldn't be able to hold the engine back unless the bearings were out, and you'd hear it.

I didn't think to look at the volts. What would it sound like if the bearings went?

Kinda like an injured cat.....

Seriously, you'd hear a grinding and/or squaling noise from the back end of the alt.

I didn't hear anything like that. The engine just sounded like it was working very hard and that something was holding it back.

When I went to start it after I got home, the battery was dead so my husband jumped it and it started. We put it on the charger overnight and it only took a 75% charge. We're thinking it'* the battery and/or the alternator. However, the battery is only 5 months old. What do you think?

if your going to replace the Alternator, replace the battery along with it. USUALLY when a alt goes, it take the battery out with it... killing it a few months later... it seems to be a concensus to replace them both at the same time to avoid headache down the road.

Yes this is a very good idea. It becomes a vicious cycle....in our dozer the alt went bad so we replaced it, then the batteries failed a month later so we replaced them, but the bad batteries took out the alt so we replaced it again. Never doing that again...