Hey guys I got a tech question for you... I am skilled enough to replace anything on my 98 XJ 4.0 that I need to, its just trying to diag this problem is what I am having trouble with. Before I start throwing crap at this thing I thought I would run it by ya..
On wed. I took my XJ through a decent size puddle at the beach cause the tide had flooded it a bit, nothing like door sill high but good enough. It lightly spuddered a bit right after, I assumed maybe some water in the exhaust, nothing major, and that was wednesday. Now today on my way home my Jeep's "Check Gauges" light comes on and the battery charge spiked to nothing.. shortly after the "abs" light would flicker on and off and also the radio. I got home turned it off and its dead, starter will click, but not fire. Now, the battery will charge to about 11 to 12 with the key in accessory, but then without trying to turn it over it will spike back down to 9 and the check gauge light pops back on. If I try to turn it over before it spikes down the starter will just click, after it spikes nothing.....
I say the story about the puddle because of likely crapping out the alternator there, it sounds like the alternator to me personally. But the battery charge spiking to nothing after 5 or 6 seconds makes me question that.. I took all the connections and grounds off the battery to make sure they werent nasty.. I honestly cant remember replacing the alt ever and I am not the original owner, and its a mopar unit so who knows it maybe original... The battery I stole out of a brand new Viper about 2 yrs ago (I worked at a Jeep Dealer at the time, to bad I still dont!) So I dunno, I think the alt, but who knows they could both be bad??? Any Ideas??? I would really appreciate it!
Jason
On wed. I took my XJ through a decent size puddle at the beach cause the tide had flooded it a bit, nothing like door sill high but good enough. It lightly spuddered a bit right after, I assumed maybe some water in the exhaust, nothing major, and that was wednesday. Now today on my way home my Jeep's "Check Gauges" light comes on and the battery charge spiked to nothing.. shortly after the "abs" light would flicker on and off and also the radio. I got home turned it off and its dead, starter will click, but not fire. Now, the battery will charge to about 11 to 12 with the key in accessory, but then without trying to turn it over it will spike back down to 9 and the check gauge light pops back on. If I try to turn it over before it spikes down the starter will just click, after it spikes nothing.....
I say the story about the puddle because of likely crapping out the alternator there, it sounds like the alternator to me personally. But the battery charge spiking to nothing after 5 or 6 seconds makes me question that.. I took all the connections and grounds off the battery to make sure they werent nasty.. I honestly cant remember replacing the alt ever and I am not the original owner, and its a mopar unit so who knows it maybe original... The battery I stole out of a brand new Viper about 2 yrs ago (I worked at a Jeep Dealer at the time, to bad I still dont!) So I dunno, I think the alt, but who knows they could both be bad??? Any Ideas??? I would really appreciate it!
Jason