Hydralic fluid in coolant. Case 580b

[ijoker]

Hi everybody! Been a while since I have been on here. I have been working out of town for the last 2 years and haven't had time to get to my property much less work on it. My wife passed away from lung cancer August 8 and I just got up to my property 2 weeks ago. When I checked the radiator there was hydraulic fluid floating on top of the coolant. Knowing that's not a good thing, I drained the radiator and refilled it with coolant and tried running it. I did some work with the backhoe and before I knew it hydraulic fluid was spraying on the wind shield. Well I left the machine parked and came back to town and after thinking about it all week I decided I needed to pull the radiator and bring it to the radiator shop in town. They told me they could fix it between $75 and $190. Which is a lot better than getting another radiator. Cheapest one I found was on e-bay for $360. New ones are upwards of $660. Anyway worked Sunday on getting it out. WHAT A B..CH! I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but I had no idea. Just getting the top cover off was a chore in itself. Then getting everything undone to get the radiator out took forever. Every time I thought I had everything undone, there was something else to remove. It seemed like I was going to have to tear the whole machine apart just to get that stupid radiator out. Had to remove the fan because the fan shroud is part of the radiator. Then when I thought I was finally ready to take it out it wouldn't come out. Come to find out it was bolted through the bottom! :Banghead After I removed those bolts it came out. Oh my god! I never had such a hard time pulling a radiator. After I got it out I thought it would be a good time to replace the fan belt. It has been a little bit to big ever since I got the machine. I had to tie wire the alternator to the adjustment bracket because at the end of the bracket the belt was to loose. So I removed the hydraulic pump and got the belt off to bring with me so I can get a size smaller. Took the radiator to the shop this morning. Hoping they can fix it and the radiator is not shot. You guys had any experience with this problem?

 

[robin yates uk]

sorry to hear about your wife passing away,,,,,,,,sorry I can't help with your problem but I dont think fixing the rad will cure the problem

 

[ijoker]

I figured it had to be the radiator because there are two hydraulic lines going into the radiator from the front. It just sounded logical to me that the hydraulic fluid is getting into the coolant because it is leaking internally. If it isn't that, I don't know what it is.:beatsme

 

[robin yates uk]

I am not a Case man,but why would hydraulic pipes pass into a water radiator?The JCBs I am used to do not do this

 

[ijoker]

They must be there for cooling the fluid I guess. I have seen lots of oil coolers in front of the radiator, but not directly into it. Case had some pretty lamebrain ideas like that back in the day apparently. There are a few things on this machine that don't work so well. The brakes are a good example. Mine are manual brakes and they are mounted on the side of the differential. You can't adjust them far enough to make them work well without rendering the parking brake unable to pull. You end up unwinding the parking brake so far to make it work that now your foot brake doesn't work well. So you have to find a happy medium in there and call it good. The brakes work ok but if they were built better, say with hydraulics, they would be good.

 

[Bill Smith]

Pretty well every automatic car on the road has hydraulic transmission lines going through the water tank of the rad
Sorry to hear about your wife

 

[REDDEATH]

I had the same problem and it was the radiator you can read this post it may help. Sorry for your lost

https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/showthread.php?36269-Oil-in-Radiator

 

[ijoker]

Thank you all for your condolences on the loss of my wife. I miss her a lot. She lost a 14 month battle with lung cancer. Life ended for her, but it goes on for me. Thanks Reddeath. I read your post. It sounds like my diagnosis was probably right. What else could it be?ointhead One thing came to mind from reading your post, and that is that I didn't think that the hydraulic fluid lines in the front of the radiator are for the shuttle tranny. I was thinking the hydraulic system for the hoe and front loader. After thinking about it, you are right! I remember changing that filter by the radiator and now recall it being for the shuttle tranny. And one of the lines to the radiator comes from the filter. You didn't say in your thread, did you change the shuttle tranny oil? Or otherwise check to see if you had coolant in it?

 

[REDDEATH]

Yes I changed all the fluids when this happen so I could start new.

 

[ijoker]

Ok. I need to get some tranny fluid. Thanks!

 

[melben]

ijoker,

Not only does your radiator have an internal cooler in the bottom tank but it also works at system pressure as pump output goes straight through it to the valve after being filtered. Case used to sell the bottom tank as a service item because of the large amount of failures but I think they no longer supply it. Your instincts were correct, We Case people are very familiar with this issue but other brand owners may not be. You will be fortunate if the cooler can be repaired but be hopeful.

 

[ijoker]

I picked up the radiator from the shop Tuesday. Will be going probably sunday to my property to put it in. The radiator looks good. They said they repaired it. So we shall see. Cost was $175.

 

[melben]

That's awesome, most breakages are not where you can get to them, you've dodged a bullet if it works/

Mel

 

[ijoker]

Tue that. We shall see.

 

[ijoker]

radiator install

Well I got the repaired radiator in this past Sunday. The install was not as bad as getting it out. After I got the radiator in with the hoses hooked up, I decided to go ahead and put coolant in it before I install the hydraulic hoses to make sure the coolant doesn't leak to the bottom where the hydraulic oil goes. It didn't leak! So I went ahead and hooked up the hydraulic hoses and everything else, then it was time to change the oil in the shuttle and start it up and see how it goes. There was not much oil in the shuttle at all. I think I maybe got 1.5 gallons out of it. :Banghead I really don't think it was 2 gallons. It felt to light to be that much. Anyway I went ahead and filled it up. It took 5 gallons. I thought the shuttle was supposed to hold 6 or 7? Or even 8? I didn't drain the torque converter, so I didn't have to add for that. Maybe that's why? I didn't do that because it seemed to me that because of the enormous amount of pressure the shuttle is under when it is running, forced all of the oil out of the radiator. I did not see any coolant in the oil that did drain out. It was all oil. I would have seen it too because the coolant and the oil wasn't mixing. The oil was on top of the coolant in the radiator before I pulled it out. It just baffles my mind that I lost more than 3 gallons of oil out the shuttle via the radiator and I never noticed it!:beatsme Anyway, I started it up and every thing seems to be ok with it. I really did not get a chance to run it. It was late in the day and I came home Monday morning. I am going back up this weekend to cut firewood and haul it up with the backhoe. So after I am done I will check the radiator and the shuttle and make sure all is good. I have my fingers crossed. It is the pressure of the shuttle that I am concerned with and the repair that they did on the radiator. Hoping the repair does not fail under the pressure. ointhead

 

[ijoker]

Hi everybody. Well got some firewood that weekend and just went back up this past weekend and pulled the radiator cap and the radiator was still full. But there was oil at the top. :Banghead Before I jumped to conclusions I thought, lets check the shuttle fluid level. The level hadn't changed. I checked the radiator again and the oil is just a residue in there. I didn't flush the cooling system when I put it back together. So I need to do that. Otherwise everything is good. The fix worked. Halleyuah! I think I spelled that wrong. :usa

 

[alrman]

Liquid dishwasher detergent is supposed to work well, for flushing oil from cooling systems, as it does not foam.
Never tried it myself, but the theory sounds good.