HELP!! Submerged the X

[moto_head90]

I submerged my explorer last night up to the front turn signals. I got it running fianlly today, but now my battery light is on and the alt. gauge only reads up to about the first letter in the background. What do you think is wrong? Did I fry the alternator or do I have a bad ground or something???

 

[Jason_25]

You fried the alternator. Put a charger on the battery for an hour or so and go to an auto parts place and get it tested for free.

 

[Robb]

That's why they make boats and bridges!

J/K sounds like fun, but maybe not worth an alternator rebuild.

 

[MONMIX]

Alternator amoung potentally other things. Clean all your ground points with some 40 grit sand paper and put a little dialectric grease on your sand scraches. Pull your carpet out so that doesn't lead to your floor boards rusting out. Water is actually a great pennatrant , check your transfer canse , tranny , differental and what ever else was submerged and needs proper lubrication. Remember , rust never sleeps.

 

[moto_head90]

Thanks for the input. The problem ios that I have to drive home about 100mi from college this weekend. I don't know if it will make it. I have a 1000cca battery taht is a few months old. If I can just keep it running even though the alternator is bad and not shut it off...do you think I will make it home??

 

[Robb]

I'd have the alternator checked. It would suck when you are about 60 miles on the road, in the middle of nowhere, and you run out of juice.

Better safe than sorry....OMG, I'm my dad!

 

[Crankcase]

You wont make it that far if the alternator light is on. The battery will get so low it will tell the computer to shut off. Try blowing compressed air into the alternator to make sure there is no water at all left in it.

 

[94EBexplorer]

check all your fluids.... definatly before the 100mile drive home... or youll be sorry.... you should take out your air filter too... cause if your air system is stock... it sucks air right by the turn signals.... well level just about with them... wich in turn would such up like a straw into your motor... causeing it not to start... you probley couldnt get it started cause there was water in there.... if you have drove it since you were in the puddel... Check your oils.... your diffs.... and wheel bearings if your oils are milky that means there is water in there.... if you were up to your turn signals and it was sitting there.... you could very well hydro lock your motor.... check them now... be safe.... cause it sounds like if your not... you will be sorry.

 

[Dre]

I wouldn't go on the road without everything properly working. First of all I don't think you'll be able to make it home on your battery alone..... even though it's a good battery.... Second you might run into more problems down the road. ..... suddenly your alternator might freeze up....... then what would you do?

I would definatelly check fluids in tranny, transfer case and differentials....... water might of gotten in through vent tubes..... you might just toast your diff if you run a 100 miles on a mixture of oil and water.... tranny might go out as well..... and that's a lot of money to replace......

so as you can see alternator might not be your only problem here.......
on the other hand - chances are you might make it and nothing wrong will happen.....
it all depends on how the truck got into this mess..... was it submerged entirely - front to rear? or just the front? what kind of water? clear or muddy? (this probably won't matter much anyway) .....

so check it before you go..... I don't think you want to end up 50 miles from home with a messed up tranny, differential or god only knows what else.....

good luck!

 

[blakecakes]

Hey, you can do your own alt. check. Start the X and take off the negative battery cable, if the X dies then you need a new alt. If it don't die it probly is something else, yet I would still get the alt checked. Just in case.

 

[Robb]

I'm pretty sure your X is going to die when you pull the( - ) lead whether the alt. is good or not. Unless they have changed basic auto electrical systems, which wouldn't surprise me.

 

[drwambo]

I'm not so sure that pulling the NEG cable while the truck is running is a good Idea. Seems to me that I heard somewhere that there's a capacitor in line that will burn itself up if you do that. I could be wrong, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Most parts places have the toys to test your electrical system for free, and it only takes a few minutes.....

Just my $.02

 

[88vert]

Dont drive at night for sure

 

[espnfreak]

If i were you i would check the fluids and scope out the alternator. Towing and whatnot would be expensive if you got stranded somewhere, better be safe than sorry.

 

[MONMIX]

The pulling the neg cable off the battery is an old school trick. With newer vehicles and their sofisticated (sp? )computers you are askin' for troubles. Pep Boys and places like that offer free alternator tests. That is a lot cooler than a $1,100.00 computer module.

 

[Crankcase]

I had always heard that the battery regulates the amount of voltage coming out of the alternator, thus pulling the cable off while running would be very bad for it.

 

[ld50]

Now this is interesting!

I`m not an expert on the electrical systems of newer vehicles, but know that undoing the battery trick.

I had a 72 datsun years ago that went from outside Hope to Port Coquitlam with only the alternator running it. It had no negative effects that I could find. (in case yer wonderin, someone stole my battery! Thank god for standards and small hills!)


HERE IS MY "TAKE" ON IT - PLEASE COMMENT IF YOU FIGURE I`M WRONG!!

This was possible because there is a regulator after the battery in the cicuit, which keeps the volts at 12. The alternator sends (we`ll say)13 volts or so into the battery for charging at or near the connectors, so when the engine is running, a voltmeter on the battery leads would read 13 volts, (right?) which is regulated to 12 before entering the vehicles wiring system. If the car is running, wether the battery is connected or disconnected, the the regulator still receives 13 volts. Therefore, if your alternator is hooped, you would be running on battery power only, so disconnecting the negative lead would kill the engine.

This is also why dim headlights are an indicator of a fried alternator. The battery doesn`t have the amperage to supply your accessories, without the constant supply from the alternator.

*note* it is possible for your battery to be dead enough to suck the current from someone`s engine if he tries to jump you, and your engine won`t crank. (ever seen this?) That`s why we end up waiting a bit, or getting the jumper to rev up his engine, which will increase the amperage, or you can borrow his battery to start you. (you wanna try what?)

Remember the old hand cranks on the front of cars? (not that you`re all in your 80s)
How bout kickstart motorcycles? They keep running with alternator power only. We started using batteries when we invented starter motors. They are for starting your engine only (and now for using accessories without the engine running, of course)

Any thoughts on this?
I`ve always thought my "take" was correct and have yet to be disproved. I don`t think even computer controlled engines can differentiate where the power is coming from, or that it would care.

-Jim from BC

 

[moto_head90]

Thanks a lot for all the help. Since it is the end of the semester here at school, I sold my books back and got enough money to get a 130amp alt. from Napa for $135. I replaced it yesterday...problem solved. My engine oil is good and my tanny is good. I am not sure about the transfer and diffs, but I will check them later today before I leave. I blew the seal on my steering box just above the pitman arm...will this be a ***** to change?? I leak a lot of power steering fluid now. I blew the seal becasue I was trying to force the tires to turn when I was deep in some ruts in the water hole I have a drilled airbox so I didn't suck much water and the X was in the water up to the passenger turn signal and almost up to the top of my 33s on the driver's side. So I was kind of tipped in the water. The way I got it started after I got it pulled out was to take out all the plugs(which were black and wet) cleaned them off with a rag, put them back in, then sprayed some ether into the intake. It ran on 5 cylinders for about 1/2hr. smoking like hell. Then it cleared up....

 

[Texan01]

Jim your post is right on the money.

Personally I'd take it to someone with a voltmeter and check the voltage output. rather than risking a computer or radio being fried.

 

[unabonked]

Pull your carpet out so that doesn't lead to your floor boards rusting out.

Is this that important? I flooded my sport bout this time last year to bout the same depth. Luckilly i had no adverse electrical effects and when i got home i toweled out the carpet. I'd hate to think its been rusting all this time, but i don't wanna pull the carpeting up just to check on somthing that may not be there.