Went mudding last night and went through some wet stuff. In the middle of it all the bettery light comes on (im not sure for a fact, but i believe it was soon after a deep water/mud pit). I thought maybe a little mud got on the battery or alternator or something and would be ok. Finished mudding, and went home with no problem. Next day after driving around a bit the battery gauge drops and all the normal stuff happened (lights dimmed no radio etc.). Parked and turned off the car, tried to start it back up, nothing. waited half hour starts up with a little stutter.

So what i'm trying to find out is could mud have gotten in my alternator or messed up the connections or something. I'm going to take the truck to get the battery, starter, and alternator tested tommarrow. But wanted so see what you guys think. Could cleaning the alternator fix it? And if so how do i do that? ( 1 coworker told me to unhook the battery and spray it, another said to use an air compressor)

I might post this under off roading too.

 

I would say that the alternator is shorting out with all the mud,need to take it apart and clean it good then let it dry out.The alternator is the pacemaker for the elect system, with out it your with out power for your stuff,also wash your motor off,the mud maybe shorting something out on it.After some mud fun it's time for a good cleaning. Good luck on getting it fixed for some more fun.

 

Indeed... our alternators don't like muddy water very much. Try gently rinsing the alternator with water with the engine off and see if it clears up. 90% of the time flushing the goo out fixes it. 10% of the time it's time for a new alternator.

-Joe

 

Thanks, i'll see if that works.

 

One time my truck started to stutter after mudding. Water had got below the coils in one of the spark plugs. Pretty cheap to fix.

 

I wish it was only that, unfortunately not.

Took the truck to advance and they said it was probably the altenator but would like it taken out so they can hook it up to their machine. Did that and it read like 1 volt! Took it home and cleaned it out, put it back on the machine and it read about 11volts!

So now im trying to dry it out to make sure i got all the water out of it and see if it kicks it up to the 15 range. I hope so! Dont want to pay the 150 dollars if i dont have to.

Do you guys think i should get a new one if the altenator dosent bump up to the recommended 15 volt output, or put it back in the truck to see if it works itself back to normal? Probably not but whatcha think?

 

Its over, sprayed some carb cleaner in their, blew it out and works just like new!

Thanks for the replies.