went through a puddle today and then my battery light came on one the dashboard. i got home turned the car off, turned it back on with no hesitation or anything. unplugged the battery and plugged back in. The light is still on. anyone have any ideas what could be wrong?

 

Check your voltage on the battery. I'm thinking your alternator got wet, therefore not charging the battery.

 

ok i'll check the alternator. thanks for help

 

drove around today and all of sudden my radio stopped working, radar detector kept restarting, and fuel gauge dropped to E. I need to get this fixed soon. Still sound like its the Alternator?

 

Its definitely the alternator. All those electronics aren't getting power any more. That means the alternator is not charging.

Just how big was this puddle?

 

was it a lake you drove into? lol jk but yeah sounds like the alternator, if you have any doubts, just take it somewhere to get it tested. have them test your battery too while your at it in case thats the problem too....

 

Most shops will do the test for free. At least here in Canada anyways. They'll connect a monitor and it will read the voltage of the alternator and the battery. If its not consistent or if its low, this is the best way to find out.

 

easy test...while the car is running undo the negative on the battery,if the car dies then its your alternator,,,,save the money

 

ok thanks guys, i'm going to advanced today to order the alternator, thanks for the help again

And the puddle was bigger than i expected lol

 

bad news this morning. i go out to start my, it trys to start and then it just starts to tick rapidly...WTF

 

I see this all the time at the shop, it's always one of the three... battery, alternator, or starter. The battery is only a second hand device. In other words if your alternator is bad, then it will cause your battery to go bad almost within a day depending on if it is long gone or just shorting out. If the car doesn’t want to turn over but will click to its heart’s content then your battery is fine and it’s your starter, though if the clicking starts to slow down it could be that you don’t even have enough juice for one turnover. If this is the case try a jump and get to the closest battery shop asap, then you can at least test your alternator while you’re there and if it was the alternator, like a said before chances are it fried your battery anyway, your new battery should get you to the closest place for the alternator. On the other hand if it’s the starter, you’re not going anywhere anyway. best of luck!

 

What he said^^^^
I think since your alternator was bad it was just running of your battery and it eventually drained the battery dead. If the parts store is not to far maybe a mile or so you can charge the battery back to a hundred percent and it should hold for the short trip if you only have one ride. But is safer if you can get a ride.