been having some problems lately

so last weekend, I went snowboarding up in wisconsin, and it was a 3 hour drive up their, I was doing about 70-75 on the I39, and I noticed the check gages light was on, so I looked at the battery gauge and it was all the way to the right, like it had way too much charge. So i pulled over and shut it off, then turned it back on and it was fine. It did this a few times on the way up their, and every time I could just shut it off and then back on and it would be fine. Well, I made it up their and made it back home fine.

Then problem #2 came up, if I was driving around town, I would start accellerating, and it would rev up fine and then drop to like 1000 rpm and kind of sputter while still accellerating. So two days ago I put new plugs in it and it was fine for a little while, but now its doing it again today.

I think these two problems might have something to do with each other. Oh and I should mention, the battery thats in it (optima yellow top) came out of my brothers truck, and is a bit bigger than the jeep one, 750 something? but ive had that in my jeep for 6 months at least, and it just started showing these symptoms. oh and yesterday, I had my alternator checked and it was fine as well as the battery. any ideas on what this could be?

Crank postion sensor behind the VC on the bellhousing thats my guess

is it throwing a code? what year is it? a 95? 4.0L? what color were the plugs when you took them out?
sounds a little like a short somewhere or it could be related to your MAP, TPS, or fuel delivery system, it could also be timing related, check the crank and cam sensors also. it could even be a fuel pump or 02 sensor. go through and check to see if you have some shorts and then the other basic stuff. remember an engine needs fuel, air and spark. if one of those are malfunctioning you will have issues. whatever you do, don't throw parts at it! pick up a service manual, like haynes or whatever your local parts store sells and flip through the troubleshooting section. it will tell you how to check your sensor and it will give you a better idea of what is going on.

alright, ill check out the troubleshooting in my haynes, xtrflexj do you think the cps is bad or what?

also some more details about the problem, it only does this at lower speeds, i can cruise at 60 just fine.

fuel pump, where is it and what is involved in switching it?

so ive pretty much narrowed it down to the filter, im borrowing a fuel pressure gauge tommorrow and checking how mine is, so if its under the norm, i'll probly buy a new pump. oh anyone know how much a new fuel pump is?

The pump is in the tank and price wise not even a clue

my dads diesel sputters like you mentioned and he asked a few mechanics and they all said that it is that the torque convertor is glazed and sputters when it locks up

all the mechanics said it is normal and usually happens in colder weather

I recently changed mine ('96), and it wasn't that bad. I know they changed from 96 to 97. I bought the part off ebay (just the pump)for around 50 bucks. Its not that bad. I dropped the tank, and I would definitely recommend that you do too, especially if you haven't done it before. Skip the stealership--they wanted 575 for the part(they will only sell you the entire assembly) and 275 for the labor (I never had any intention of having them do it....I was just curious). I believe autozone wanted something like 90 for the pump. It is all still pretty fresh in my mind, so hit me with any questions you might have.

HTH