Drove through water, battery light on until car turned off but seems to be fine now.

Hey guys, on my lunch break today I was forced to drive through a rather long and deep puddle. I got all kinds of belt squeal, and my battery light came on. I was unable to get the light to go out (or belt to stop squealing) at any rpm or in any gear until I was able to park the car and turn it off when I got to my destination about 2 or 3 blocks down the road.

I popped the hood expecting to find a soaked belt and/or alternator, but they both seemed pretty dry from what I could see and feel from the top. I went in to grab my lunch and came back to it roughly 10 minutes later... The car started up and ran like nothing happened. No battery light stuck on, and no belt squeal.

Seems perfectly fine now.

I did some searching around here and was only able to find one thread that kind of lines up with what I went through..

slayne said:

03.5 p5 was driving in the rain and was a puddle about 20 feet long collected on the side of the road went thru it doing 25 and could hear the water hitting the floor boards. After the going thru it the battery light came on for about 20 seconds and went out, had no previous issues with the battery or battery light. Also noticed the dash lights starting to go dimm. Puddle was on the passenger side of car. Any suggestions on what to check?

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My 'puddle' (more like lake) was also on the passenger side. My headlights were off so I wouldn't have seen any dimming. I also slowed down to about 10-20km/hour while driving through it... but my car is lowered.

Jasonjames said:

Because the alternator is mounted quite low in these cars,..they're susceptable to water getting in and causing the slip-ring-brushes to lose contact with the slip-rings mounted on the alternator-rotor. This effectively stops any output from the alternator to the battery,...and therefore a battery/charge alarm-light.

No biggy,..the rings will dry out in a few minutes or less

JJ

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Seems like a reasonable explanation to me... but I guess I'm just looking for some kind of consensus or affirmation... hopefully I'm not going to get stranded on the way home. (lol)

bigpturgeon said:

That is just the nature of the P5. There is nothing wrong with it.

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Anyone else have this happen?

The belt squealing meant it was slipping. So, the alternator wasn't spinning, causing the battery light to turn on. By the time you pulled over, the water was flung off the belt/pulleys, so the belt appeared dry.

I like the water interfering electrically idea better than mechanically lol ... but it WAS squealing like crazy. Does the light on these cars 'trigger on' and stay on until car is shut off? I would have expected the light to flicker on and off as the pully gained and lost traction...

Still seems to be working properly after driving it 150+ km for what it's worth.