Water in Transmission Oil

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

Sunchaser, you are letting him off way too easy! We want a training session on how to properly identify water in oil please! Pictures and everything!!!

Cheap scotch and cigar would be considered in your sentencing.....

Glad you found it.....

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Sometimes the hope is that since it is the internet trouble shooting suggestions are wrong. Here is another thought - engine oil has additives/emulsifiers that help the base stock to entrain moisture. Possibly that is why a clear water oil separation cannot be easily discerned by Windmist. Hopefully whatever goo is or was in the oil was removed via an oil change over a week ago.

No training session required but I can say that I changed my emulsified engine oil 5 times in two days as I was troubleshooting water in the engine oil. It turned out to be a bad after cooler. Bypassing the faulty cooler allowed me to travel another 600 miles without incident to have the new AC installed.

The engine survived unscathed. The curse and blessings of today's emission compliant engines ----

windmist said:

Today I removed about 2 cups of oil from my Twin Disc into a clear glass jar because I had over filled it initially. Again it looked like water was in the oil in the first amount of oil out of the tranny. However after letting it sit for an hour or so, the oil looks uniformly the same. I use a built in oil change pump that is used for the engine, generator and transmission. Is it possible that the oil change pump could foam up the oil until it gets good flow?


If water is in the oil, wouldn't it be very plain to see in the glass jar?

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An overfilled case may create the condition of foaming oil. It does in many automotive applications. (Transmissions)

Removing oil and letting it settle should give a very clear picture as to if there is oil or was it just foamed oil as a condition. Water will tend to rise to the top as oil is heavier than water.

If you think it is posible there is water in the oil in your mixture, dip a paper towel in it. Many times you can tell just from that if the towel has only oil or a mixture. OR if you are unsure, in an open area, (away from anything that wil burn - like off the dock in the parking lot) hold a flame near that mixture on the paper towel. Water doesn't burn.

>>>>>>>>>>>>Action

Action said:

An overfilled case may create the condition of foaming oil. It does in many automotive applications. (Transmissions)

Removing oil and letting it settle should give a very clear picture as to if there is oil or was it just foamed oil as a condition.]Water will tend to rise to the top as oil is heavier than water.

If you think it is posible there is water in the oil in your mixture, dip a paper towel in it. Many times you can tell just from that if the towel has only oil or a mixture. OR if you are unsure, in an open area, (away from anything that wil burn - like off the dock in the parking lot) hold a flame near that mixture on the paper towel. Water doesn't burn.

>>>>>>>>>>>>Action

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????

psneeld said:

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Well if it was true that would solve any future oil spill problems.

Sorry I meant the other way around. My insomina was speaking there.

If the oil and water are mised use the paper towel, not cloth rag just paper.

>>>>>>>>Action

Thanks everyone for your comments and help on this non-existent problem. I'm pretty sure I don't have a problem with water in the oil as I never see the slightest evidence of water after letting the oil sit overnight in a glass jar. I just have never seen what foaming oil looks like.


When I thought I had overfilled the transmission that was also wrong. After I started up the engine and checked the oil while in idle, as the manual says to do, I barely had oil on the tip of the dipstick. I had to put all the oil I extracted back in plus some. I think I now know more than I ever wanted to about this Twin Disc transmission.


Again, thanks everyone for your help.

water when well mixed with oil forms a suspension that will not "settle out" even if you wait years.

bayview said:

water when well mixed with oil forms a suspension that will not "settle out" even if you wait years.

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Thanks Bayview. You also posted this earlier in this thread:

Whoh! Tranny oil is not usually visibly dirty unless very high hours or something is wrong. Water in oil will not separate once it is mixed well. The color however is baby $hit brown, sort of dark mustard without any burnt smell.
It is not hard to remove the cooler on that engine and pressure test it.

When I took out a couple of cups of oil, thinking the transmission was overfilled, that oil looked exactly like new oil. No difference in color at all.

This engine only has 1300 hrs on it and it and the transmission has always been well maintained. So I think what I will do is run the boat for a few hours and then pull out a small amount of oil and have it analyzed which probably won't cost anymore than having the gear cooler pressure tested. Also I hate working on engines as I seem to cause more problems than I solve.

As for oil analysis, there is a company called Blackstone Laboratories that has a neat program. They will send you a oil test container at no charge and when you get the sample to send in, that is when they charge you $25 for the analysis. I have the container in hand so will use it for the transmission oil.

Thanks again for the help.