Mudhole/check engine light/alternator dying?

Yesterday at lunch I took my Cherokee thru a mudhole with no probs. On the way home I noticed the check engine light was on, but ran fine in every way, I figured maybe I splashed some water in the wrong place. This morning on the way to work I noticed my (Autometer) voltmeter was reading about 11 volts, then a couple miles later(pulling in at work) it went down to about 8 volts, the radio cut off and the headlights started dimming. I put the battery on charge while at work and was able to get it home luckily. Iam pretty sure that my alternator took a crap so I bought a new one($144) to put on in the A.M.. My question is did the mud/water kill my alternator or was it a coincidence? Did the mud/water trigger the check engine light? Any advice?

yes it probably kilt it

Hey Jeepsloth, are you still at Fort Bragg? PM me and lets do some wheelin!

The mud probably gummed up the brushes. I regularly have to clean mine out or I'd be buying three or four alternators a year.

If you can stand getting rid of your A/C then move your Alternator up top. No more mud issues.

I replaced the alternator and all is good now. I started it to check the voltage(which was around 13v) the check engine light was still on. A couple hours later I was going to have the code read at Advance, started it and the light was not on? Hmmm.