Out driving on the trails came across what looked like a small puddle... Ended up being water up to the headlights. Any idea what it could be.

 

Smoked starter, blown alt, blown main fuse, hydrolocked....you could be in some major trouble...

pieced together on my iPhone using all the extra parts from my cherokee...

 

since you got that much water in your engine bay it can be a whole bunch of things. your starter could be completely dead, water in the distributor, blown coil, bat CPS (crankshaft position sensor) computer damaged, water in engine.


need more symptoms and what the jeep is actually doing

 

Dead Jeep until further notice...

 

It does one click then nothing, there is still power to all other componets like stereo headlights interior lights

 

Well either your starter is done or motor is full of water

pieced together on my iPhone using all the extra parts from my cherokee...

 

Oh the air filter is soaked but I checked the oil and no water

 

Water won't be in the oil it's in the cylinders... Pull your plugs out and pray you find no water

pieced together on my iPhone using all the extra parts from my cherokee...

 

Could still be hydrolocked if your rings are good lol.

 

Alright will do it's being towed home right now I'll let you know thanks!

 

now if there is water in there you can either do two things

blow out all the water with a compressor

or pull the head and clean it out.

i would suggest just pulling every plug and blowing it out, check your distributor for water contamination, ensure your starter is not blown, and fire it up using starting fluid through the throttle body with the intake hose off. (this takes 2 people) also check your fuses and vacuum lines for good order

 

So there's no water in the plugs

 

Check distributor, starter, and starter solenoid

 

try turning over by hand to rule out locked motor.

 

Sounds like a starter since your hearing the click of it TRYING. If it was something before the starter you wouldn't hear anything. I would pull the starter and bench test it to rule it out 1 way or the other. If its bad replace and leave all the plugs out- crank it over quickly maybe with someone watching to see if water does come out of the cylinders.
Start slowly and work ur way up the chain- open up ur car and let the distributor dry out- for that matter leave the hood open and let the whole thing dry.