Milky oil in gearbox.

[whatsupdoc]

I changed the gear oil in my one year old LandPride finish mower and the gear oil was milky.
Since then I ran it for about two months and sure enough the oil is milky again.

The tractor is stored indoors, it has never been used in the rain and I never mow wet grass.
So where is the water coming from? Some say its from condensation but then why is there no signs
of water in any drive axle I have drained.

 

[Captain13]

It is more than likely condensation. Not sure if your mower has a filter on it or not but that’s typically how it gets in. Some use a desiccant filter on the vent but if not, the condensation can get in through the vent. I have a Wood PRD8400 and have no condensation problem but it also doesn’t have an obvious vent on the gearbox..somehow, it vents through the dipstick but appears to require some pressure buildup to do so. There is always a slight oil coating on top of the box that starts around the fill plug/dipstick so I can only assume that that’s where the gear oil is coming from. But it’s never milky inside the box. I can only assume that it vents there but the vent closes as the gear box cools down.

 

[JasonW]

Are you pressure washing it?

Could still be residual oil/water mix from the first time you changed it?

Did you check it before each use or just after the 2 months of mowing?

 

[whatsupdoc]

No pressure washing.

Doubt it was residual from the first time. I just changed the oil and only checked it two months later and it was milky again.

 

[whitetiger]

How did you remove the old oil when you changed it?