Quick fluid change ques.

[seagull369]

Hiya, guys. I was wondering if the position of the hydraulics has anything to do with how much fluid will come out during a change. Some water got in my hoe's system and after draining, filling and running the hydraulics through their motions twice , it's still looking like chocolate milk in there.

 

[bill onthehill]

I would think you want as many cylinders retracted as you can to return the greatest volume of oil to the tank. you can figure 3 times to get it all out of the system.

 

[surfer-joe]

If a hydraulic system becomes contaminated with water or anything else, it has to be completely disassembled and ALL components drained and flushed. This means the tank, the cylinders, the valves, all hoses and tubes (all opened up, cleaned, and reassembled), and the filters and their housings of course.

This is the only way to be sure you have removed all the contaminant. Doing anything else only continues to contaminate, and wastes the new fluid you install. Just draining the tank and changing the filters only dilutes the contamination down to smaller levels every time. There will still be water left in the oil and it will do damage to your system.

Even after a complete system rebuild, the fluid and filters should be changed again after a short interval.

Fluid sampling can help determine what the water level is and you can make some decisions after knowing what that is.

Good luck!

 

[OneWelder]

When I have had to deal with contaminated systems - I raised booms up drained system then tipped buckets and lowered booms
to get as much fluid out at one time as possible -you will need to do more than once- otherwise take it apart one component at a time -also I do not know what your machine is but if the trans uses a common reservoir you need to be careful

 

[RobVG]

If a hydraulic system becomes contaminated with water or anything else, it has to be completely disassembled and ALL components drained and flushed. This means the tank, the cylinders, the valves, all hoses and tubes (all opened up, cleaned, and reassembled), and the filters and their housings of course.

That's certainly true if you're working on the Space Shuttle.

But there are alternative methods of removing water from your hydraulics.

 

[Tinkerer]

Three weeks ago I had to do a complete hydraulic system oil change because of water contamination. This is how I did it. Retract all the hyd. cylinders even if you have block some components to keep them retracted. Now unhook ALL of the hoses from the ALL of the cylinders. Completely drain and clean out the hyd. tank and install a new filter. Fill the tank with clean oil. Now start the engine and flush all of the unhooked lines until you get clean oil coming out of them. Be sure to keep the oil tank full as you do this. Reconnect the lines on the retracted (closed) side of the cylinders. Now extend all cylinders slowly and completely. Be carefull because oil will be coming out of the extended side of the cylinders with a lot of force ! After extending the cylinders reconnect the the hoses to them. Now all the system should be completely flushed except the swing cylinders. I flushed the swing cylinders in the following manner. Stabilize and level the machine with the outriggers. With the boom on the ground so it cannot swing unhook all the hoses to the swing cylinders. Now flush all of the unhooked swing cylinder hoses. Next be sure no one is in the swing path of the boom. Raise the machine with the outriggers being carefull to keep it level until the boom is clear of the ground. I was now able to swing the boom in a full arc left to right by pushing it by hand. This will completely flush all the contaminated oil out of the swing cylinders. Next lower the machine so the boom is resting on the ground. This will prevent the boom from swinging as you reconnect the hoses. The boom has to be prevented from moving so you will not get caught as you reconnect the swing cylinder hoses. After completing this,the entire system will be flushed. This is what worked for me and I now have machine with oil in it that looks as clean as it did when the oil was new in the 5 gallon pails. It did require 40 gallons of new oil to accomplish the flush but that is a lot cheaper than replacing a hydraulic pump or who knows what else water contamination destroys.

 

[seagull369]

I was afraid someone was gonna say this'd be more than a simple fix ,,,,but thanks so much for all the great, speedy replies. I really have no one else to ask this stuff to.

My machine is a Case 580 SE, where (I believe) the transmission (hydrostatic) and all hydraulics (aside from the brakes) in the back there work off a common reservoir. Given that I'm wondering if that throws a wrench into your idea, Tinkerer. I guess that all depends on whether or not all of the fluid comes out of the hydrostat when I drain it. If doesn't, I imagine I'd just be spewing more contaminated fluid out those disconnected lines I was trying to purge.

I read your link about polymeric filters, Rob, but there was a significant amount of water that got in there (stupid me left the cap off). Because of that, a polymeric filter might not be much help. "Vacuum distillation" and "headspace dehumidification" sounds like they require special equipment I don't have and unfortunately can't a shop to do.

 

[RobVG]

First off, I'm no expert. Use your own judgment.

My experience came from a Zaxis 160 when the operator called me to say the hydraulic look milky. I came out and sure enough, it looked like a butterscotch milkshake. I talked with the service manager at our local dealer and he said they had a filter that they could run it through. He also said I could change it a few times and try to drain as much out as I could. I opted for the drain/change and the machine has run without a hiccup for the past 3 years. The hydraulic is clear.

PS We have a 580 Super K- the transmission and hydraulic system are separate...pretty sure...

 

[willie59]

I agree with you RobVG. If my memory serves me correctly, the 580 Super E had a seperate hyd reservoir from the tranny reservoir.

 

[seagull369]

I agree with you RobVG. If my memory serves me correctly, the 580 Super E had a seperate hyd reservoir from the tranny reservoir.

Shows you what I know. I checked my handy ebay manual and it shows a separate capacity for the power shuttle so you're right.

Tinkerer, I'll try your idea and report back. Thank you all again.

 

[Tinkerer]

seagull, I believe ATCOEQUIP is correct. I just took a quick look at the online parts manual for a 580SE Super. It definitely shows a separate dipstick for the transaxle housing. Also the brakes are regular ones with master cylinders. My machine was heavily contaminated with water when I bought it. But I made it worse when I too left the tank cap loose overnight while I was in the process of repacking a cylinder. Of course we received a 2" rain that night. I do not regret going through all the work and oil it took to get the system clean. If I had let the contaminated oil damage any of the system components I still would of had to flush out everything.