| Author |
Message |
    
steveII
| | Posted on Monday, April 08, 2002 - 12:28 pm: | 
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hey guys
changed the fluid in the front and rear
diffs and t/case. noticed the fluid
from the front diff was grey- even when
refilled. normal? good? bad? evil? holy?
the right front hub seal was leaking 'grease'
a while ago - was repaired under warranty. the
grey stuff in the diff looks alot like the grease.
thanks
steveII
99 d1 sd7 45k mi |
PerroneFord
| | Posted on Monday, April 08, 2002 - 12:59 pm: |
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I think you answered your own question..
-P |
RonLF
| | Posted on Monday, April 08, 2002 - 01:00 pm: |
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Chances are the grey/milky stuff is water in the housing. Have you been in wet conditions with it? |
PerroneFord
| | Posted on Monday, April 08, 2002 - 01:27 pm: |
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Water??
I've had plenty of water in my axles, but I don't ever remember it looking grey... What kind of water do you wheel in? 
-P |
Moe (Moe)
| | Posted on Monday, April 08, 2002 - 01:29 pm: |
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Steve, you might want to also check and make sure your diff breather tube is not blocked. My breather tube was blocked in the rear and consequently water was being sucked in from one hub when pressure was low and oil was expelled through pinion seal when pressure was high. |
discoNdixie
| | Posted on Monday, April 08, 2002 - 01:51 pm: |
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Sounds like water to me too. Take some oil and add water and it will look like grease. I no it sounds crazy that if you add one transparent liquid to another and it becomes opaque, but it is true. Take everyones' suggestions and find out the source. Just be glad that it not is your engine. The problem is not only does water not lubricate as well as oil, it also has a much, much lower boiling point. Hwy speeds will boil grease/water mixture, then you will have problems with everything. Good Luck. Lee |
PerroneFord
| | Posted on Monday, April 08, 2002 - 02:02 pm: |
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Strange..
When I've had water ingress in the axles, the oil has always looked brown and milky. Similar to that Yoohoo or Nestle Quick milk. Never grey. The idea that the diff oil may be mixing with the bearing grease from the hubs makes sense to me.
I'd like to hear the outcome of this one.
-P |
al hang
| | Posted on Monday, April 08, 2002 - 02:18 pm: |
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it's normal, if you are really worried just take the diff off and check the gears for chips or spots with uneven wear. but as long as there is no noise, it drives smooth, and there are no metal bits you should be fine. something else you can do next time you drain the oil is place a thin layer of gauze over an oil drain pan. it will catch any solid particles for you to examine. Just make sure the oil container has a screen that will support the guaze and to only put a thin layer down since the oil is so thick. |
SteveCz
| | Posted on Monday, April 08, 2002 - 02:51 pm: |
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Take a pint of 90 weight and run it in an axle for 20,000 miles, on and off road, but not in water. Drain it off. It'll be close to black, maybe dark chestnut brown, like Liz Taylor's Hair (dating myself with this).
Add about 1/4 cup of water (from a mud puddle OR the tap) and put it all in a blender. On high speed. (Pure-ee for you dandies) and look at the color - Gray.
New oil is brown. Add water and mix, you get Perrone's Chocolate Milk.
The water molecules suspended in the oil (through agitation) give it the cloudy, whitish cast.
When someone keeps up on the oil changes (after just a few wadings) the oil is still brown.
After sucking dust through the breather and grinding metal and breaking down for a year or two, it gets black.
SteveCz,
student of the swamp and destroyer of axles. |
PerroneFord
| | Posted on Monday, April 08, 2002 - 03:10 pm: |
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Oh,
So my problem here is that I actually keep up on the maintenance?!
Steve, is there a difference in color between what you describe, and what happense when the bearing grease and diff oil combine? I mean is there an easy way to discern which is actually happening?
-P |
Kingfish (Kingfish)
| | Posted on Monday, April 08, 2002 - 03:24 pm: |
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I have had the same problem happen to me. `I agree with P on this, as this happens on the front axle, not the rear. Also, I've seen filthy gear oil (old and water contaminated) and this doesnt look like it. It comes out THICKER than new or old gear oil and it has a silver-type look to it. Also, I had replaced the gear oil 1 year before so it wasnt very old and had not been off the blacktop in that year (flame away, I don't give a crap). Anyway, I have heard that it is not a problem for the diff., as the two lubricants are compatable. |
SteveCz
| | Posted on Monday, April 08, 2002 - 03:41 pm: |
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Perrone,
I have trashed a vehicle or two.
I'm particularly hard on drivetrains.
Let's see how a Rover holds up!!!
Keeping up on a severe-use maintenece shed-ule will allieviate oil blackening. As far as fluid migration is concerned, I can only offer conjecture and speculation.
Physicists and fluid engineers, please correct me if I am wrong.
Here goes.
When the barrier between the swivel housing and axle leaks, (Seal? I've not had to go in there yet.) the leak would ostensibly be from some type of wear, as opposed to a sudden failure. A leak (or wear) would start out small, allowing first a less viscous lubricant (thinner in consistency) to migrate past. In the case of gear oil vs. swivel ball grease, the gear oil would migrate first into the swivel housing, not the grease into axle.
HOWEVER, after the oil got in the swivel housing and mixed with the grease, it very well could have migrated back past the seal into the axle, which is the situation you have described.
The way to discern if there is a seal leaking between the swivel and axle (ass-u-me-ing there is such a seal) is to check the condition of the swivel housing lube. If it was grease, It will now be a similar goo as in the axle. If the swivel ball was always bathed in 90w, it too will be black, or gray with water (or chocolate brown, in the impeccably maintained Rover).
Again, I am out on a limb, sawing away. and the preceeding is in no way based upon personal experience.
SteveCz, mixologist |
Mark & Bev Preston (Markp)
| | Posted on Monday, April 08, 2002 - 03:55 pm: |
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Been there on my Scouts. Blown a front diff pinion seal after a D44 top vent leaked. Diff fluid + Water = Yoohoo Brown. The water that went in was clear Colorado stream water, not brown muddy water. |
200 Tdi
| | Posted on Monday, April 08, 2002 - 11:13 pm: |
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Ditch the inner seal and run oil in everything like land rovers used to be !
Oil is cheap. |
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