water in hydro oil

   / water in hydro oil #1  
H

hills

New member
Joined
Feb 10, 2014
Messages
7
Location
murrells inlet, sc
Tractor
jd 4600
Howdy. I have a JD 4600 with front end loader (460). I think I am getting water in the hydraulic oil. The oil gets milky and the strainer gets clogged with a white scum like junk. I changed oil, filter and cleaned the strainer. I let it sit outside for a couple of weeks and whe I went back it stopped within 2 hours run time. Same problem. I keep it outside and it may have rained, not sure. The filler is tight, the dip sick if good. The floor board is good and has rubber mat. the seat and underneath seems and covered. Fenders are good. There are gaps around shiftes and control levers. WHERE IS THE WATER COMING FROM???
 
   / water in hydro oil #2  
Do you have a water cooled heat exchanger for your fluid? If you let it set, does the water separate and go to the bottom of the sump, or does the fluid stay looking scummy.
 
   / water in hydro oil
  • Thread Starter
#3  
John Deere service dept says it is air cooled. The oil stays milky and doesn't seem to separate. This pic is about all day. one guy said to check the boot around gear shifters. Also that there may be another drain plug in the rear somewhere. I do leave it outside in the rain. Thanks for the intrest. Hope you can help..
1129211705.jpg
 
   / water in hydro oil #4  
So for clarity, you noticed your hydrauiic oil looked dirty brown (like it does now in the pop bottle) and decided to change it. After changing it, the machine sat outside for 2 weeks, maybe got rained on, and after 2 hours of operation the oil looks like the stuff in that pop bottle? I'm skeptical that the rain could get enough water in the fluid in that short time to make it look like that, unless there is some kind of gutter that's channeling the water into a boot or something. Just as a sanity check that there's really water in that fluid, take a teaspoon full and hold it over a torch and heat it up. If it pops and sizzles, that's the water boiling out of it. If it doesn't do that, there isn't any water. I'm wondering if what you're seeing is contamination that resulted from the fluid being water contaminated for a long enough time to cause rust or corrosion in the system. So now when you add clean fluid, it flushes out the contamination in the system and ends up looking brown. Can you post a photo of the strainer with the white scum on it.
 
   / water in hydro oil #5  
Cant speak to the deere, but alot of tractors have the trans drain....then they have a drain plug for the rear axle or rear axle trumpets at the lowest point.

Water and contamination settle to the bottom. IF you only drained the oil out of one drain plug....and that plug wasnt the low point....I am guessing you are lucky if you changed half the oil. And none of the bottom oil where water will tend to settle.

Do you have the operators manual....it should spell out exactly where to drain the oil from
 
   / water in hydro oil #6  
Fought with water contamination in my NH backhoe for years. Finally built a barn to park it in.

When I first got it I could pump the contaminated oil out and let it sit and the water would settle to the bottom. Later the water would emulsify like the stuff in your bottle. I always used Travelers Premium in it so I assume they changed the additives.

My trans, axle, and hydraulics are all separate. I only had the problem in the hydraulics. I suspect the filler cap on the tank. This year I found a generic filler I could order as vented or with a pressure release. I ordered it with a 3 psi release.
 
   / water in hydro oil #7  
hills said:
John Deere service dept says it is air cooled.
Click to expand...

Huh?? (I'm confused)

Cooling System: Cool-Gard™ II
4100....................................................................... 2.4 L (0.63 gal)
4200....................................................................... 5.3 L (1.4 gal)
4300, 4400.............................................................. 5.7 L (1.51 gal)
4500....................................................................... 6.8 L (1.8 gal)
4600, 4700.............................................................. 7.2 L (1.9 gal)


Is this your tractor:

 
   / water in hydro oil #8  
hills said:
Same problem. I keep it outside and it may have rained, not sure. The filler is tight, the dip sick if good. The floor board is good and has rubber mat. the seat and underneath seems and covered. Fenders are good. There are gaps around shiftes and control levers. WHERE IS THE WATER COMING FROM???
Click to expand...

If you have any gear shift levers on the floor it usually enters there. Runs down the lever sneaks past the shifter boot and into the transmission.
If the water/oil has emulsified you will need to clean out the cleanable transmission oil filter.

If you have water in the trans/hydraulic fluid you may have it running down the inside of the steering wheel shaft and into the steering box.
Water in the hydraulic oil is common in tractors left outside.
The cure to all of this is a tarp.
rScotty
 
   / water in hydro oil #10  
Spanner said:
Huh?? (I'm confused)

Cooling System: Cool-Gard™ II
4100....................................................................... 2.4 L (0.63 gal)
4200....................................................................... 5.3 L (1.4 gal)
4300, 4400.............................................................. 5.7 L (1.51 gal)
4500....................................................................... 6.8 L (1.8 gal)
4600, 4700.............................................................. 7.2 L (1.9 gal)


Is this your tractor:

Click to expand...
The engine is liquid cooled.

The OP was responding to a question about a water cooled heat exchanger for the hydraulic oil. And he is saying that is air cooled.

Like some cars/trucks have an air cooler for the transmission....where ONLY trans oil is running through them. And some have the cooler immersed in the radiator.

Tractors (usually on larger ones) can have a hydraulic cooler than cools of the engine antifreeze....which is a potential source for water in the oil. That was the purpose of the question. But has been ruled out by the OP as only having an air cooler for the hydraulics
 
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