water in hydraulics system

Hi guys. I got an Oliver 1550 with water in the hydraulic oil. Looking very milky any time I disconnect and reconnect hoses. I removed filter today to see forsure. Not pretty, very milky. I'm figuring its condensation as I park in heated shop and she well below freezing out side. Figure to change oil out and reading through archives got figured how to drain out hydraulic fluid from resivoir. Question is should I also be looking at draining hyd cylinders on FEL so as not to recontaminate system. If so how do I go about this. Or is there some additive I can dump in with new oil that would absorb the remaining water. Or am I over thinking this. Any advice appreciated. Thanks Rocko.

If I was going to drain the cylinders on the loader I would do it like this. Lower the loader to the ground, take off the hoses on the upper side of the cylinder and put the ends in barrels, raise the loader thus forcing the contaminated oil out of the cylinders, reconnect the hoses. Now the tricky part is how to drain the lower part of the cylinders without the loader falling on your head. If you have another loader tractor to hold up the first loader that would be perfect. While holding the loader up with loader #2, take off the hoses on th elower side of the cylinders and put the ends in barrelslike before and slowly lower the loaders to the ground, now reconnect hoses.

Rocko! If you colapse all your cylinders, then you can take off the hoses and drain out the remainder. I HATE that job. I have had to do that twice to two different tractors, with loaders on them, Paying for new oil burns me, and creating new leaks in hose connections, is almost a given. Good luck guy!

Rocko before you do anything make sure it is WATER??? A high pressure internal leak can cause the oil to foam and look milky.

Take a glass quart jar.(really any glass jar with some depth to it. You want glass to be able to see through it) Fill it 3/4 full. Then you need to heat the oil up. I put a pan of water on the cook stove. Then set the jar of oil in the pan. Let the stove heat the water an that will heat the oil. It is much safer doing it this way. Less chance of a fire. If you just heat the glass you may break the jar and have fire start.

When the foamy/milky oil is warm it will separate out if it is water. If it is justed foamy the heat will purge the air bubbles out and it will clear up an look normal.

Doing this is a cheap way to save yourself the cost of replacing the oil to find you have hydraulic problem not a water issue. This is especially true since you have a loader on the tractor. A loader works the hydraulic system more. Plus if you have a valve plumbed into the SCV to run the loader, it is common for those valves to foam the oil. They usually are just simple spool valves. They depend on the fit in the bore to seal around the spool. As they wear they can leak internally and cause the foaming I am talking about.

Thanks for the advice JD. I will give that a try, "a HIGH PREASURE INTERNAL LEAK" doesn't sound good either but I'm not looking foward to draining the loader cylinders. Probably one of those jobs that you try to avoid but when you actually get at it isn't near as bad as you thought it would be. I sure hope it is. Thanks again. Rocko.'

With the loader on the ground, disconnect the line that goes to the control valve. Then go to the farthest hose from there and unhook it. Put a little air pressure in that end and it will blow the oil out of the line. You might need someone to hold the valve open to make it work. You can do the same for the bucket. Can get messy with oil blowing out so don't do it in your clean shop without some protection down. You can pull one of the pins on the cylinders and push or pull on them with the line off to get the oil out of them. Safer than raising the loader and having that hanging over your head.

Easiest way to drain oil from pistons; raise loader all the way bucket back, shut off machine, drain tank, roll bucket forward forcing oil to tank drain, lower loader forcing oil from raise pistons to tank drain. The only problem is the loader will not go to ground unless you have a hole for bucket to go into, I usually try to do this when it is warm outside. Good luck

rocko
If you find moisture in the hyd system be sure and check that the hyd reservoir breather is not plugged with dirt.

Rocko, From my experience and that of many others that have posted here, the standard method for removing condensation moisture in oil is to work it enough to raise the temp enough to drive the moisture off. You could get a condensation event that would put moisture in your oil three or more times a year. Buying that much oil would get expensive.

Hi showcrop. Right now I think its a little to contaminated to do all the system as you suggest, not sure just my opinion. If I say change oil in resvoir and forget oil in loader cylinders, do you think a good loader work out would boil off the remaining water from the system? When I do drain resvior I was planning to collect contaminated oil and allow to settle out in a bucket and depending on how it looks after that reuse it. Opinions? Problem with my Oliver is you can't drian resvior (from what I've read)No plug or p-cock, you have to break a hose some where, idle tractor and pump oil out. Thank you and all the others for your reply's and any more input would still be appreciated. Rocko.

(quoted from post at 08:08:59 01/14/13) Hi showcrop. Right now I think its a little to contaminated to do all the system as you suggest, not sure just my opinion. If I say change oil in resvoir and forget oil in loader cylinders, do you think a good loader work out would boil off the remaining water from the system? When I do drain resvior I was planning to collect contaminated oil and allow to settle out in a bucket and depending on how it looks after that reuse it. Opinions? Problem with my Oliver is you can't drian resvior (from what I've read)No plug or p-cock, you have to break a hose some where, idle tractor and pump oil out. Thank you and all the others for your reply's and any more input would still be appreciated. Rocko.

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Like I posted to someone else a few days ago, when you are wearing shorts and get your leg against the housing and it burns, you know that the temp is way too high for water to be still in there. If you have the means to work it, and get it hot, the water is gone very quickly, and then a few up and down cycles with the loader will take care of the moisture there. I don't know if you have the means of working it, but if you do it is a lot faster and cheaper than draining, rinsing, draining, and refilling, keeping in mind that another warm front coming in from the south may cause you to need to start the whole process over again. I really think that you are over thinking it and it will take care of itself.

Thanks show crop, I'll give it a try. Not sure what work out gonna be as yet but theres a lot of stuff that needs doing. Just not the best weather right now to be doing it. Really only gets about a hr use every day for feeding, could be cause of the problem. Sure as sh!t ain't gonna be wearing shorts when I do. Thanks again Rocko.

compare price of oil to price of new pump
then make your choice

I would drain the oil into a clean bucket or pan, and plan to keep it in clean containers. I have found that the water will drop out of suspension over time, and the hydraulic oil floating above the water seems like new. Considering the high cost of any oil products, I use the reclaimed oil over.

I just pour from a bucket until I start seeing any water. Others have suggested putting the pail of hydraulic oil outside in the winter, to let the water at the bottom freeze. I would think that the oil would pour kind of slow, though! I always try to be thrifty!

(quoted from post at 10:08:59 01/14/13) If I say change oil in resvoir and forget oil in loader cylinders, do you think a good loader work out would boil off the remaining water from the system?

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I dont think that would get the oil hot enough, it dont work on my Farmall. I think I read that "normal" oil temp is 100 degrees above air temp. so even on the hottest days, the water has a hard time going anywhere. I just dont work the tractor hard enough and I know it so I drain the oil and change it out. Only difference is, I change it out with used oil (ya, its clean, covered, etc.).

(quoted from post at 10:08:59 01/14/13)When I do drain resvior I was planning to collect contaminated oil and allow to settle out in a bucket and depending on how it looks after that reuse it. Opinions?

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Thats what I do, I have enough oil for a second oil change and I alternate between the 2 batches of oil. I want to make a vacuum chamber to speed up the oil drying process but havent done so yet. Till then, it will be good old fashoned gravity and temp changes to settle out the oil.