I went through a slightly flooded out street this weekend (1-2 foot) in my stock XJ 4x4 and the "Check guages" light came on. I looked at my gauges and the battery guage was pointed to the left (9volts I think).

I started to think that my alternator must have got wet and "fried" or something, but the Jeep didn't skip a beat. I made it to the grocery store and after shuting the Jeep off, and the immediately turning it back on, the "Check gauges" light disapeared and the battery gauge came back to normal.

Any idea what happened and how I can maybe prevent it from doing it again? My guess is it was a sensor or something simple, maybe I can find it and put some dielectric grease on it to prevent it from hapening again.

My Cherokee is the better vehicle, and as such I "let" my wife drive it as hers (that's love man....I love that thing) and last thing I need her saying is anything bad about the XJ. We just bought it a few months ago and we are in the rainy season where I'm at in FL. My neighborhood has some regular flood spots.

I know, lift it. I will as soon as I finisih replacing ANYTHING that could cause DW!

 

Your alt might be starting to go. My volt meter went up and down for a week before I pulled the alt and had it tested, the guy at the part store said it was time for a new one. Since then no problems.

 

It just got your alternator and sensor wet. Once it dried out it's okay. Have done this before and no long term effects.

 

That's some good advice. It's fine now. My buddy at the shop said maybe the fan belt was slipping underwater? Could it also be a reason for it?

 

Sounds like Evil knows what he's talking about. I don't think a wet belt would slip for long. You might know the old trick, if you're really in a pickle, remove the belt for deep water. Then the fan won't throw water everywhere