Mechanic opened the hydraulic tank yesterday and found 1" of sludge in the bottom of it. It had plugged the new filter up tight, and ruined 12 gallons of hydraulic fluid in the process. Problem was it was starving for fluid when working at all. Less than 20 hrs on the new hydraulic fluid. Tank has 2 covers that bolt on to clean it I guess, neither one had a gasket on it so I think stuff was getting in around the cover plates. He cleaned the tank, flushed it with diesel, put in a couple of gallons of clean hydraulic fluid, circulated it through the system, cleaned the tank again, new filter and new fluid and it is a new machine. We also added a couple of cans of trans tune hydraulic supplement and cut gaskets for the cover plates and sealed them up tight. Hasn't run like this all the time I have had it. He said he has never seen a system contaminated to the extent mine was, the machine spent most of its life scraping manure on a farm so it doesn't surprise me. He let me pay for the supplies but wouldn't take any money for labor, said he should have checked it more thoroughly last time he changed the oil.
Thought you guys might like to hear the results.
