Need Help with Charging System Problems for 97 Jeep Grand Cherokee
fredr1980
mud pit (wasn't very deep, maybe up to the wheel hubs) and I think I
killed my alternator and messed up my charging system on my 97 Jeep ZJ
4.0L. My volt gauge normally sits at 14 and after running a mud pit it
was sitting at about 11 and about a mile down the trail it finaly went
below 9. I barely made it home (60 mile drive) on just the battery's
charge. I went to the local parts store and picked up an alternator and
swapped it out thinking that would solve the problem. Since my battery
was dead after the drive I borrowed the battery from my girlfriends
truck to start my truck up. Well it started up fine but the volt meter
was only sitting at 11 on a brand new battery, and as soon as I
disconnected the battery my truck would die. Finally I got my girl to
sit in the truck and give it some throttle to keep it from dieing while
I swapped the batteries, which worked but as soon as I installed mine
the volt meter dipped below 9 again and about 15 seconds later the
truck died. I cleaned out the engine bay REALLY good in order to
install the alternator and cleaned all the wiring on the alternator,
battery, the grounds and even the electrical connection to the starter.
Am I missing anything here? Is there anything else that could have
gotten messed up in the mud that would prevent the alternator from
charging? Any other ideas?
Thank you,
Fred R.
Lawrence Glickman
wrote:
Does your alternator have an -internal- or -external- voltage
regulator.
Mike Walsh
If you have an external voltage regulator, replace it. If the voltage regulator is built into to alternator, look for a broken wire or bad connection someplace.
Lawrence Glickman wrote:
>
> Does your alternator have an -internal- or -external- voltage
> regulator.
--
Mike Walsh
West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A.
Mike Romain
alternator pulley. This happens all the time to my Jeep when I take
them out to play in the mud. Mud = liquid sandpaper.
Now that you ran it open voltage with no battery, the computer is very
likely fried as well as the new alternator likely puked out it's
electronics.
Well, when my old roommate ran his with no battery thanks to an
incompetent shop that forgot to tighten the cables so one fell off, he
killed the new alternator, the computer, the ignition module and his
stereo. Hopefully you are luckier....
My test for a polished up belt is to take a cold off engine and try to
hand slip the alternator pulley. If I can hand slip it, it will not
grab good enough under load to charge. The alternator takes a few HP to
spin up under load.
Your system has the regulator in the computer which is an expensive fix
and unlikely to have been caused by mud unless you got water into the
computer's plug.....
Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's
Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view!
Jan/06 http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2115147590
(More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)