High Voltage - Not the album

1999 Cherokee AW4 ~300K

So I was in some real wet terrain and my the lower end of my xj was pretty wet. Water lines look like the alternator was submerged. My voltage gauge maxed out and then all the gauges died. Volts, fuel level, oil pressure, and water temp all went to the low end then the check gauges idiot light lit up. Voltage was definitely high. Lights got brighter. Wasn't in there too long but was a few minutes. Still seemed to run fine but didn't want to push it so turned her off

Soaking the alternator and hearing some squeals led me to think the alternator failed. I had a replacement on hand and threw it in to start her back up only to repeat the same gauge symptoms

Anyone else run into something similar? I read forums about failed voltage regulators and voltage spikes but nothing from wet alternators. Confirmed the high voltage was real with a multimeter

I was planning on going to the junkyard to get a replacement pcm/ecm/computer to repair the voltage regulator. I'm thinking that the sustained high voltage fried something the there

A day broken on the trail is still better than a day in the office :clap:

If you are not aware, there are stand alone voltage regulators which you can use to work around a failed voltage regulator in the ECM.

The ECM controls the ground side of the field coil, and it's possible that it's blown. What's the voltage across the field terminals? I would inspect the wiring at back of the alternator and make sure it's not damaged or shorted to ground.