starting troubles after being up to the doors in water/mud
 

i was wheeling today and got stuck in some mud. i was able to back almost all the way out but got stuck again with a tire a few feet off the ground. was stuck for about thirty minutes till i got a pull from an exterra. the jeep never died and was able to start even when it was in the water. when we got stuck the engine parts where out of the water and just the front passenger tire was still in the water. a lot of water came in, it was weird driving with your feet submerged haha. but anyways my jeep started right up after and i drive it 70 miles to my buddies. this was after stopping at a gas station about 30 miles into the drive to check her out and she started fine and about 60 miles into the drive we stopped at a car wash to wash it and vacuum the interior. restarted fine and made the last ten miles with no problems, at my buddies we cleaned the interior a little more and popped the hood.... there was mud on the inside of the hood. luckily there was mud in the air box at the bottom but the filter was clean and dry and the top of the box was fine, the rest of the engine compartment is covered in mud. went to start the jeep and got the click click click noise from the starter, jumped it and it started fine but sounded a little funny so we killed it. checked the oil and it looked fine, no water, but i did only check from the dipstick. after checking the oil we went to jump it again and nothing. my battery was really low at about ten volts so i think my alternator might be gone but is the starter bad from the mud or water or do you think it would be able just take it off clean it out and see if it works. like i said ran fine on the way home. also my one side of my hood wouldnt pop open? anyone know what this is from? i think it has a bad spring that pops it up? i tried to search this and only found things where the cable snapped. mines fine its just only the driver side pops up. thanks for any ideas.

For the starter just let it dry and than remove it and get All the mud/dirt out. As for the low voltage the alternation might be toast from getting doused in mud. A way i heard of checking it is starting it and disconnecting the positive terminal and it should still run but check before you try it. Hope i helped Atleast a bit lol

Sounds like your alt. has had it. All that starting and driving you did after the dunk was probably off the battery only. Once the battery was completely drained it won't do anything more. I would replace the alt and charge the battery then give it a try. Its very likely that your starter is just fine.
As far as the hood latch, try a good dousing of penetrating oil them lube it up well.

Do you have an amp gauge? If not try and jump it and test the voltage at the alternator with it running. Should be in the 13-14 range. If your not sure how to test it, take a multi meter and set it to the number "20" on the DC setting. Black lead to ground, red lead the alt. Main post. Probably covered by a red cap. The alt placement on jeeps is terrible, ive went through many myself. If your only getting 10 or so, or less at the alt its bad.

Oh for the hood latch, I keep plenty of white lithium lube on mine, and now they work fine.

You heard wrong.. NEVER disconnect the battery while the engine is running. Bad idea.

Agreed. Absolutely NEVER disconnect your battery with engine running. Below is the link to why.

I have personally repaired blown alternators and computers from people who have tried this. It is an old troubleshooting trick that worked BEFORE electronics became solid state.

http://www.troubleshooters.com/dont_...ct_battery.htm

Troubleshooting the charging system is relatively straight forward and most of it can be done with a simple meter.

Alternators and water intrusion don't get along. At all.

it was the alternator, pretty easy fix and got one from napa with a lifetime warrenty :thumbup1: it was a 170 bucks :thumbdown: but the lifetime warranty isnt a bad deal. also sprayed the latch with some wwd40 then let it dry and then used some lithium grease in it and its working good for now. thanks for the help guys, and also i cant believe jeep didnt try to get the alternator a little higher up, its mounted pretty low.

If you take it back full of mud they wont Honor the warranty, FYI. Ive done it, if you ever need to take it in, hose it out first. They wouldn't replace my Napa one, I hosed it out and took it to a different Napa.

good to know about the alternator. thanks. and i currently am cleaning the floor pan while the carpet dries out haha. took about 2 hours with the house, and brush and some carpet cleaner to get the carpet dirt/mud free. the insulation was attached to the carpet on the bottom and i didnt want to mess it up so i just hosed it all out haha. the carpet is basically dry so i vacuumed it up with a shop vac so just gotta get the insulation dried up and shes good to go. oh and now she needs an engine detailing

Don't spray water/cleaner near the alt.! Ps same thing on Napa starters, they wont replace them with mud in them either.