Water in hydraulic oil. What to do?

[kjung17]

No Grasshopper, oil floats on water.:thumbsup:

 

[wjsizemore77]

No Grasshopper, oil floats on water.:thumbsup:

I must have had one **** of a brain-fart. Sould have known better... BP Deepwater Horizon disater.

Thanks

 

[Jay4200]

Remove the plug. Any water should come out first. Reinstall plug when oil runs clear.

Yea - good luck with that. Nothing like trying to stuff a plug back in with 10 gallons of rushing oil behind it . If you can stop the flow w/o saturating your entire work area, go for it.

If you are worried about the water, at least enough to spend an hour and make a bit of a mess, then I say just dump it all. That way you'll be sure any/all water is out, regardless of which of the 4 drain bolts it decided to end up near. If you need spare drain pans, but down clean 5 gallon drywall buckets to fit under the tractor - you can get away with about 3 gallons/pan, so you'll likely need 4 of them. Any water that comes out will sit on the bottom of the drain pans, so you can just dump the fluid right back into the tractor - except for the little bit on the bottom that may contain any water or dirt. Use a nice big funnel. Top off and feel good about it.

JayC

 

[PointyHairedBoss]

... cut down clean 5 gallon drywall buckets to fit under the tractor ...JayC

I used a cheap Tote from Canadian tire to drain my hyd oil. I had to cut off a few inches to fit under the tractor but it holds the complete drain volume in one shot.

 

[Jay4200]

I used a cheap Tote from Canadian tire to drain my hyd oil. I had to cut off a few inches to fit under the tractor but it holds the complete drain volume in one shot.

How do you lift and/or handle a drain bucket with 10+ gallons of fluid in it? My L4200 takes almost 11 gallons of transmission fluid. I'd never be able control 60+ pounds enough to pour it back out of the drain pan into wherever it needed to go next.

JayC

 

[kjung17]

Yea - good luck with that. Nothing like trying to stuff a plug back in with 10 gallons of rushing oil behind it . If you can stop the flow w/o saturating your entire work area, go for it.

Jay,
I regularly sample hydraulic systems of much larger capacities in this fashion. It helps if you leave the fill cap and dipstick in place. Also block the vent. Use a fairly large, deep pan to catch splash. Yes, there will be a little splash. The vacuum created by the evacuating fluid will cause the oil to come out at a manageable rate, after the initial rush.:thumbsup: Yes, you will get your hands dirty. It washes off.I know engineers don't get a lot of practical application, you'll have to trust me on this one.:laughing:

 

[jonyyuma]

Oil will be on top of the water. If you are quick , you can let a small amount out and save having to pour all the oil back in. My tractor has two vents, the one between your legs was missing too. The one in back of the seat was still there but very loose, i clamped it with a fuel clamp too, for durability.Using clear fuel line just made a faster and more durable repair to me.Jy

 

[20 20]

I agree with kjung17, infact I was just doing this the other day. I also doubt you had that much water go in like others said check it again, if in doubt or worried then change it.

 

[johnk]

I use a plastic 55 gallon plastic barrel cut off at about 1/4 from the bottom which catches all the hydro without overflowing. Makes the job much easier than trying to get the plug in, empty the pan, insert it under again and keep draining.......

 

[wjsizemore77]

Well yesterday I changed all the fluid. No sign of water that i could see in the drain pans, but the fluid was a lot diritier than I had originally thought, so I still felt good about shelling out the dough on 12 gallons of UDT. Draining it went fairly well, no major spills or mishaps. Filled with fresh UDT.

This might be me being paranoid, but it seemed like afterward the loader was a little more sluggish when lifting the boom. No weird noises or anything, maybe a little more of a low hum, but if it is a new noise it is hard for me to tell. Also when lowering the boom & dumping the bucket at the same time, the tractor seems to strain slightly more than I seem to remember, but again, proably just me being paranoid. I didn't get a chance to really get the fluid hot and work it since it was pouring rain, and I was limited to going though the motions in my garage (12' ceilings, can run the loader throught its full range of motion).

I guess i'll wait for a sunny day and put it through the paces before i jump to any conclusions.