L185 - Water in transmission oil

[Zoeper]

Hi All,
Landed here as I can do with some advice on a old L185 and contaminated transmission oil.
I replaced transmission oil about 5 years ago (tractor is on very light duty and I have finite budget)
The hydraulic lift stopped working soon after I last serviced. wanted to top up oil now since I built a brush cutter that would require the lift to work when I noticed that the oil looks milky. I assume that water must have gotten in somewhere.
Q: the L225 manual that I have states it needs 23quarts of SAE80 oil would this apply to the l185 as well?
Q: I bought 20l of Fuchs oil for farm equipment, suitable for transmission and Hydraulics. Would this be OK?
Q: where should I start looking for the water leak on this tractor. A quick inspection yielded no obvious sources.
Any tips or advice would be much appreciated.

 

[85Hokie]

Is tractor left outside? IF so - are the boots cracked around the gear shift where they meet the transmission cover?

As for your oil - since that is a geared machine - any quality hydraulic oil should be fine. You change the filter too.

 

[JerryMT]

Hi All,
Landed here as I can do with some advice on a old L185 and contaminated transmission oil.
I replaced transmission oil about 5 years ago (tractor is on very light duty and I have finite budget)
The hydraulic lift stopped working soon after I last serviced. wanted to top up oil now since I built a brush cutter that would require the lift to work when I noticed that the oil looks milky. I assume that water must have gotten in somewhere.
Q: the L225 manual that I have states it needs 23quarts of SAE80 oil would this apply to the l185 as well?
Q: I bought 20l of Fuchs oil for farm equipment, suitable for transmission and Hydraulics. Would this be OK?

Normal condensation and light usage often cause water to accumulate in the trans/hydraulic oil. Light usage contributes because the oil never warms
up enough to vaporize the water and vent it off.

 

[Russell King]

See this thread for helpful information

Fast transmission Flushing

I have an B8200 with a standard, somehow water got in, I think through the gear lever boot. After going through two drums of oil and two drain and refills with no noticeable difference I realized that the hydraulic pump and hydraulics were obviously still contaminated. Even buying cheapo...

www.orangetractortalks.com

 

[Zoeper]

Thank you for your replies. My L185 is quite old and have metal cups around the gear levers. There might be rubber underneath, but I will have to investigate.
Some new questions come to mind now... How much water is too much? (since you will not get rid of all the contaminated oil and water without a proper flush anyway)
My oil does not look like peanut butter yet, just somewhat milky.
What is the practical way to go forward now? Is draining the transmission and axle housings enough before a refill?
I can cover the tractor in future to prevent rain water entering the transmission, but not much I can do about the condensation.

 

[rbargeron]

Drain and refill with new oil - it will likely be ok, especially if new rainwater is being kept out.

 

[mikester]

After waiting 5 years to service the machine why worry about it now?

 

[Motion]

I'd recommend when pulling the lowest drain plug see if there's any free water. I'd refill the cheapest oil with less viscosity as a flush. There should be a vent somewhere, ensure it's not blocked, when the the oil gets hot the moisture needs a place to go, if not it'll run down the sides of the housing to the bottom. As always do as you feel is best.

 

[Russell King]

Thank you for your replies. My L185 is quite old and have metal cups around the gear levers. There might be rubber underneath, but I will have to investigate.
Some new questions come to mind now... How much water is too much? (since you will not get rid of all the contaminated oil and water without a proper flush anyway)
My oil does not look like peanut butter yet, just somewhat milky.
What is the practical way to go forward now? Is draining the transmission and axle housings enough before a refill?
I can cover the tractor in future to prevent rain water entering the can cover the tractor in future to prevent rain water entering the transmission, but not much I can do about the condensation.

There are seals under the metal cups. You can cover the shifters and steering column with a plastic pan to help keep water out.

Drain clean filter screen and refill is enough

 

[Zoeper]

After waiting 5 years to service the machine why worry about it now?

Is 5 not better than 6?
It might have 30 hours of light trailer pulling on it since last service.

 

[Zoeper]

I did some work on the tractor this weekend.
Drained all the old transmission oil,
cleaned hydraulic pickup screen (again)
cleaned hydraulic pump feed pipe,
cleaned hydraulic pump
replaced the old emulsified oil with used but clean and water-free hydraulic oil as a flush-and-test before filling with new oil
assembled and tested.

Hydraulic pump is scored around the outside of the gears and **should** be replaced if I can afford it. I was hoping it would still be able to pump enough oil to lift my mower deck for now. Pomp is moving oil, but I have no lifting power with any weight on the arms. When locking the flow control valve under the seat while the arms are in the up-position, it will hold it in the raised position overnight without sagging. there is definitely still air in the system that needs to be bled out. I will figure out where and report back later this week. Seems like a new pump would need to be purchased at this stage.
Does anybody have an idea of how much these pumps are?

 

[Zoeper]

I managed to work on the tractor a little tonight.
Removed the pump again and replaced seals #4 and #11 with new. also installed #9 that was not there when I first opened the pump.
Then went to work on the cylinder and cylinder liner of the 3-point lift. Liner is badly pitted even after 30 minutes of honing. I think there is little chance that I would be able to remove all the pit marks and still have a useable liner. I would have to find a new one or turn one up myself.
I re-assembled the lot and did a quick test.
The tractor was now able to lift the mower deck, but only at fairly high revs. (confirming that the losses due to wear on pump is only overcome at the upper limits of operation.)
The deck would also only lift to a point, and stop as soon as it reaches the pitting in the bore and total losses are bigger that what the pump can deliver.
It does at least seem like the pump stopped sucking air after replacing the o-rings.

Unfortunately I think this is as far as I will get without spending money on a new pump and cylinder.

 

[Zoeper]

The plot thickens....

I wanted to spray the vineyard on Tuesday. two rows in I noticed oil bubbling out of the gear lever cups, engine dipstick and several other places.
The clean transmission oil was clearly contaminated with engine oil as it started getting a black tint.
I suspect that the hydraulic pump is bushing oil through its front lip seal and into the engine, overfilling the engine sump and overflowing into the transmission case. Engine oil level is also too high, indicating a 2-way flow of oil between transmission and engine.

Has anyone experienced something similar before?