Ford 850 Hydraulic issue

glinke · Sep 9, 2011

I just got a Ford 850. When I looked it at it, everything looked good but the hydraulic fluid. The fluid looks as foamy as if someone had put it in a blender. I have seen engine oil where the head gasket had blown and there was water in the oil. That looks kind of dirty brown and nasty. This looks like light milk chocolate frosting, though it's not that thick.

Of course, I am going to change the fluid this weekend, but I am concerned that there might be a leak somewhere. There is a dipstick in the hole. I didn't think to check the tightness of the filler plug. I am in Texas, so we know it's probably not rain water!

The three-point goes up just fine, but is real slow to settle back down even with the control lever all the way down. I haven't tried it with an implement attached yet.

Should I just change the fliud and see what happens?

Any suggestions are more than welcome!

Thanks,

Gayle

whodat526 · Sep 9, 2011

that is common for the hyd oil to look like that over time it is cause by condesation the reason it goes down slow is because it has no weight on it when you attach a piece of equipment everything will be fine

Soundguy · Sep 10, 2011

yep... ditto that.

dump in a quart of diesel, and a couple pints of 91% rubbing alcohol, run the engine a few minutes.. drain, and refill with clean UTF fluid.

it's power up and gravity down.

should be ok after that.

soundguy