I went wheeling on Sunday and I went into this deep mud hole and in the middle my TJ stalled. Im thinking that this was because either a plug or a wire got wet, or maybe even my coil, but I winched it out and got it on dry ground. But I tried starting it and it wouldnt turn all the way over. But it sounded like it wanted to. So I waited a couple of hours and came back and gave it a few more tries and it finally started. Since the battery had been drained alot, I reved up the motor while I brought in my winch cable and all the while, white smoke was coming from my exhaust pipe. I figure its just burning all the water that got in the pipe when I was stuck in that deep mud hole. So when I left the place where I went off-roading it drove perfectly fine, and I drove it to a wash and washed all the mud off it and under it. But when I left the place, my check engine light came on. It was driving a little funny then and when I went into second it gave me a little trouble, and when I was idling at a light I was at 1,000 rpm and then it fluctuated up and down till it went down to about 5 or 6 hundred. It really sounded like the motor was working harder than it should be at that rpm, almost like I was giving it gas. But anyway I drove it home and its parked there now. Its not blowing out white smoke anymore though. The Jeep is a 2000 and has 29,500 miles on it, and Im hoping that it can be covered under warrenty, but if not than I guess I got to pay. Im going to take it to a dealer today and have them take a look at it. I was wondering what you guys thought about this, what my problem could be? Any info would really help. I would like to know whats wrong before the dealer starts telling me what they think because they like to tack on a little more. Thanks alot.

You are probably lucky and it's just a lame connection at a sensor. You didn't say if any of you dash gauges read funny ..but what you describe is similar to what happened to me when I had to pull the thermostat housing off when I installed my roller rockers. (another story). Anyway even though I heard the "click" upon replacing the connector it didn't get a clean connection and the engine would get about two or three minutes of "normal" operation and the thing would fall flat on its face ...and the "check engine" light would come on. In my case the temp needle kept bouncing around so I knew where the problem was. Upon a really frustrated 15th inspection ..I realized that even though I heard the "click" ...I could pull the connector off without manipulating the clip...a more thourough verification of the clip assured a proper connection. Fast forward ...six month later ..same deal ....checked connection ...tight.......found that some contamination had migrated into the same connector (same symptoms). Pulled connector ...sprayed in a "safe" contact cleaner ...reset the computer ..no problems.

Does it run normal until it's warmed up ..which in a late model 4.0 is about 4 or 5 minutes (or so it seems).

The dealer will plug it into their substantial hand held scanner and pin point the faulty sensor ..clean the connection corrupted by the muddy water and send you on your way.

Well here is the thing, I checked it when I got home today and I put my hand behind the exhaust pipe and the exhaust feels really moist. Almost like there is a leak somewhere. I think that it may be a head-gasket, which is not good. I can also hear water trickling down somewhere from inside engine bay. But my coolant is at a norml level, and my radiator is fine. Also, I drove it to the dealership today and it drove fine exept for the check engine light, temp was fine. But the dealership cant look at it till tomm so I wont know exacly what till then I guess. But Im praying that its just a sensor.

exhaust feeling moist is normal... thats what a catalytic converter does for you. i would agree that it is probably just a sensor or sensor connection. i probably wouldnt admit to the dealer that you put it in a mudhole. im sure they would say, that you cant do that..