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Watery sludgy gear oil?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Randomize
  • Start date Start date
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Randomize

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So I cracked open the gear oil (the gear box, not the shaft) and was welcomed by a flood of watery nastiness followed by a thick, slow, brown sludge. I'm no expert but that doesn't seem right :rolleyes:

Any suggestions? Just let her drain completely and fill it back up? Flush? Rebuild? Invoke the power of prayer?

It sat outside in Western Washington for a number of years but I'm not quite sure how water found its way into a sealed transmission...
 
It's vented. Air goes in and out every day with changes in temperature and barometric pressure. Condensation forms inside when it gets cooler at night… Especially in Western Washington.

Water will likely be in the final drive too. And probably in the motor oil too if you haven't checked it yet, although the vent passage is longer and more convoluted.

Rust will be in axles and swingarms too, for the same reason.
 
i would flush it out with some diesel than use compressed air and try to force the crap out of their, fill it with oil ride it, and change it again.
 
Might fill it with kerosene or diesel, run it through the gears on the center stand, that will flush it out as good as riding it, repeat until it comes out clean.
 
That sucks man. Hope the bearings aren't all rusted up.
 
Thanks, guys.

I poured some extra gear oil through it to knock the gunk out and will change it again in a couple days with some similar flushing. Hopefully this doesn't come back to bite me...

The shaft oil showed no signs of water or sludge. It was good and gray and the magnet had a pretty thick layer on it but no sludge.
 
That's similar to what came out of mine 5000 miles ago. I just ran a bit extra through when filling and am changing it often until it settles down. Still some sludge coming out on third drain but nothing like before and at least it looks like oil coming out. The oil at the final drive was clean.
 
Randomize said:
Thanks, guys.

I poured some extra gear oil through it to knock the gunk out and will change it again in a couple days with some similar flushing. Hopefully this doesn't come back to bite me...

The shaft oil showed no signs of water or sludge. It was good and gray and the magnet had a pretty thick layer on it but no sludge.
Click to expand...

Umm, no. Change it, period. Then run it around a LITTLE while, and change it again. Gear oil is cheap, gears are not. That gunk in there might as well be a grinding compound.
 
I'm thinking this might be a good time to use some of that snake oil alcohol/detergent cleaner like Seafoam to flush. The alcohol should soak up the water and the detergent should help dissolve all that gunk. Any thoughts?
 
I would think that Seafoam would work pretty well for what you have there. It's mostly light oil, Naphtha, alcohol and water. I would think that simple kerosene or diesel would work as well in this case. Maybe add a little isopropyl alcohol to it to absorb more water. Personally I wouldn't drive it with that mix in the gear case though. I'd put it up on the center stand and run it up and down a few times in gear. Then dump it. Do this until the mix comes out looking more normal.

Don't forget the brakes. They probably need the fluids changed out as well.
 
JTGS850GL said:
I would think that Seafoam would work pretty well for what you have there. It's mostly light oil, Naphtha, alcohol and water. I would think that simple kerosene or diesel would work as well in this case. Maybe add a little isopropyl alcohol to it to absorb more water. Personally I wouldn't drive it with that mix in the gear case though. I'd put it up on the center stand and run it up and down a few times in gear. Then dump it. Do this until the mix comes out looking more normal.

Don't forget the brakes. They probably need the fluids changed out as well.
Click to expand...

Good idea on the isopropyl alcohol. I'll add that to the list with the Kerosene.

When you say to put it up on the stand and run it up and down, are you saying to start it and run it in all gears with the back tire just spinning in the air?
 
Randomize said:
When you say to put it up on the stand and run it up and down, are you saying to start it and run it in all gears with the back tire just spinning in the air?
Click to expand...

Yep. Put it on the center stand and run it up through the gears a few times with the rear wheel off the ground. It should stir up everything but not put a heavy load on the gears. You can also get it up to faster rotations that way without trying to top out in fifth gear going down the road.;):eek:
 
JTGS850GL said:
Yep. Put it on the center stand and run it up through the gears a few times with the rear wheel off the ground. It should stir up everything but not put a heavy load on the gears. You can also get it up to faster rotations that way without trying to top out in fifth gear going down the road.;):eek:
Click to expand...

Thanks. My neighbors are going to love this :-\\\
 
Randomize said:
Thanks. My neighbors are going to love this :-\\\
Click to expand...
Show them the vid and invite them over to see your new coffee machine.
I would keep changing it at every oil change even if you get it to run clear now. Sludge is tenacious as I found when I dropped the oil pan. If you haven't changed the fork oil yet be prepared for more of the same in there. Did I mention brake fluid ?
 
Brendan W said:
Show them the vid and invite them over to see your new coffee machine.
I would keep changing it at every oil change even if you get it to run clear now. Sludge is tenacious as I found when I dropped the oil pan. If you haven't changed the fork oil yet be prepared for more of the same in there. Did I mention brake fluid ?
Click to expand...

The fork was professionally straightened a few weeks ago. I'm not really sure what the process is for that but assume the oil is replaced at the same time?

Crossing my fingers on the brakes. We'll see.
 
Randomize said:
The fork was professionally straightened a few weeks ago. I'm not really sure what the process is for that but assume the oil is replaced at the same time?

Crossing my fingers on the brakes. We'll see.
Click to expand...

Assume nothing. Ask what they did. Professionally straightened could have been a squeeze on v blocks under a press. How did they get bent and how bent ? I don't think I could ever trust straightened forks.
Brake fluid needs changing every two years at least not only to keep the boiling point high but to flush out crud that sinks to the calipers and will look for every opportunity to block, corrode, jam, you name it. If it's darker than pale straw it needs changing.
 
It needs changing anyway, because of the catastophic damage it can do if it's not.
It takes what, $5 and twenty minutes? Easy choice.

Brakes locking up out of the blue isn't funny.
 
Brendan W said:
Assume nothing. Ask what they did. Professionally straightened could have been a squeeze on v blocks under a press. How did they get bent and how bent ? I don't think I could ever trust straightened forks.
Brake fluid needs changing every two years at least not only to keep the boiling point high but to flush out crud that sinks to the calipers and will look for every opportunity to block, corrode, jam, you name it. If it's darker than pale straw it needs changing.
Click to expand...

The forks were 5 mm bent and yes, brakes are next on my list of things to change.
 
An update: The top-shelf synthetic I put in it last night completely dissolved the sludge and came out a nice smooth chocolate milky texture. I ran some kerosene straight through it to knock the discolored oil out, then ran it through the gears with a belly full of kerosene and alcohol. Drained that, filled with oil and did the same thing, then drained and filled again. We'll see how she does.
 
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