98NWCherokee
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Portland, OR
A few weeks ago during a massive rainstorm I drove through some standing water on the road and dunked my alternator. My check gauges light came on for 3 seconds as my voltmeter dropped. After 3 seconds it came back to normal and the check gauges light went off. I searched the forum at that time and found it had happened to others. Since then, it has not repeated and the gauge reports normal charging.
Now, around this time during the same rain storm (2 days later) I noticed my temperature gauge was fluctuating. It normally reads just below halfway at about 200 degree and stays dead steady. On this day is dropped to about 125 degrees and stayed there, only to return to 200 a few moments later. The next day (storm finally over) the problem did not repeat and the XJ went about it's business for weeks. Over the last couple of days the same thing has happened twice now (no rain involved). I'll be driving and the engine will warm up naturally (I drive 20 minutes on the freeway twice a day). The temp gauge will fluctuate between normal, and around 125 degrees, or a quarter of the way up the gauge. What could be causing this:
Grounding issue in the cluster
Temp sending unit or temperature sensor
thermostat issue
The radiator and the thermostat are one year old and were replaced when a leak started in the radiator (XJ never overheated)
Now, around this time during the same rain storm (2 days later) I noticed my temperature gauge was fluctuating. It normally reads just below halfway at about 200 degree and stays dead steady. On this day is dropped to about 125 degrees and stayed there, only to return to 200 a few moments later. The next day (storm finally over) the problem did not repeat and the XJ went about it's business for weeks. Over the last couple of days the same thing has happened twice now (no rain involved). I'll be driving and the engine will warm up naturally (I drive 20 minutes on the freeway twice a day). The temp gauge will fluctuate between normal, and around 125 degrees, or a quarter of the way up the gauge. What could be causing this:
Grounding issue in the cluster
Temp sending unit or temperature sensor
thermostat issue
The radiator and the thermostat are one year old and were replaced when a leak started in the radiator (XJ never overheated)