Well, here's a scenerio that I, for one, have never encountered! I recently aquired a real nice, bone stock '38 Ford Deluxe coupe. This has always been a dry California car. The gentleman I got it from had it for 35 years and had it completely (except interior) restored in the late 80's/early 90's. It has been sitting in a dry garage since '92, untouched. I stumbled upon it and when the opportunity came, I bought it. Changed the engine oil... changed the diff juice, no problem. Then I drained the trans... out came grey pudding and a quart or two of water!!! The engine oil looked normal, as did the diff fluid. Now this car is sweet & clean... it never sat outside... it's the one we're all looking for. The under-side is clean & painted, just dusty & cob webby. Engine, trans, diff, frame are all painted and clean up with a damp shop rag. Any one have a similar experience?
It is fairly common to have tractors that have been stored for many years have "water" in the rear axles. With the large amount of cast iron in the axle assembly, the change in temperature cycles over a years time cause the cast iron to "sweat" on the inside from the condensation. Add this up over time and years of storage and it is actually quite common. Anything with a cast iron exterior case or assembly will do it. Does seem like a lot of water for a cast iron transmission case, but could be one possibility.
Yep--bought an old tractor with a snow plow. That winter when I went out to plow, I could not shift it. Guess what I found? Drained and refilled it. Been fine since.
Had a CJ5 in the north east that had a cowl that was so rusty rain would drip on the shift tower and run down into the tranny. Temp dropped below freezing and I couldn't shift it. Was frozen solid! Was a top loader so took the top off, pulled the drain plug and put a pan under it, and then laid a heat light on the tranny for two days. It all drained out. Plug back in, filled her with the right gear oil and she is still going strong. Probably 20 years ago now... can't say much for the body tho!
Well I'll be dipped in hawg-water... The "condensation" theory came to me initially, but I wrote it off as an absurd idea. I mean the engine & diff were fine, the car was inside a garage in Northern California, so I figured that condensation wasn't the case. Hmmmm...
The fact your oil was gray says it had been run with water in it before it was parked. The engine and rear axle should also have had condensation water in them if that was indeed the reason for water in the trans, IMHO. That said, I have no idea how the water got in your transmission.
Completely Restored is a common saying these day's. What if the trans was just cleaned (washed) and painted because it was working fine ?
Yeah, I get that... I hope that's not the case here! I'm going to do a flush with kerosene, then fill it with gear lube and run it on the lift. (no load), drain it and see what I get. I can see the gears through the fill hole and they look O.K., but I'll be able to see better when I get some of the mung rinsed off.
Just some additional thought starters.......condensation in engine ? not thru stamped oil pan.....into engine block....yes, and it goes into the water jackets of the block.....and mixes with the coolant .....and you never notice it !!. Rear axle ??? it's there, but probably harder to detect and see....many rear axles have cast center sections and tubular outers, so "condensation" is less of an issue. Good luck ....don't make a common issue complicated.
I know, right? It's interesting that condensation is "common" in the snow belt. I lived in Chicago for 40+ years & I know all about extreme temperature change, condensation, etc.. That's one of the reasons I moved! However, I still think it's a very strange occurrence here in Ca., where we've had warm dry weather on a daily basis since, like forever... I'm not saying it's not correct, I'm just saying it's strange. What ever, it is what it is and I'm on my way to get some kerosene...
with the humid summers we get in the midwest these things come up often.When i had a shop with a steel roof it would be like it was raining some mornings when the sun come up.
Exactly! The floor in my Illinois garage would have 1/8" of water on it. (not the case in Nor-Cal, fortunately)
I have been following this thread and have to ask, like Johnny Gee, 1 to 2 qts???? Isn't it possible that the trans, or maybe the whole car, got steam cleaned or pressure washed at some time and water got in? Just seems strange that the whole trans was full.
It happens all the time on old dozers and other equipment that have been left outside for years. There is a lot of empty cast iron on some of those old machines. Between that, the rain/snow that hits them for years and the simple fact that many pieces of equipment don't get serviced for decades we see that a lot here in the frozen tundra when one of these machines is finally brought back to life. Very often in the gear boxes any gears that are above the oil line are all rust, below is fine and then if there is water at the bottom it is back to rust again. Also happens to aircraft engines outside/inside and not used often enough. The cam is usually what gets rusted first and if the aircraft is finally started after lengthy storage things can go bad real fast at about 2000 feet. Extended storage pre-flight inspection should include pulling a cylinder or two for a look-see. All lessons learned the hard way, mother nature can be a mother.
No, just went thru this with a 38 Ford coupe, it was simple rain thru the cowl vent dumps right on the front of the trans the tower or shifter had no gasket the water collected at the front of the tower and seeped into the trans, oil on top and 2 qts of water under the oil after we pulled the shifter tower.
This is what happened to my brothers 66 chevy pickup. He broke the input shaft on the first one he had in there, when he replaced it. He took the replacement that was filthy to the car wash and thoroughly washed it. When it froze 2 weeks later he couldn't shift gears. When my dad pulled the trans cover and tried to get shifter out it was a solid block of ice. They used heat lamps, propane torch, etc. When it final drained that trans had way more water in it than gear oil.
Luckily I didn't have to deal with all that... I emptied & flushed the trans, then filled it with gear lube & Marvel Oil, ran it in gear on the rack and dumped the juice. After the 3rd time it looks good, but I'm going to keep a close eye on it and repeat as needed until I see that it's all good.
Sounds like someone needed a transmission at one time or another and bolted a junk yard tranny in it. I dry it out the best I could and replace the grease and drive it.
I've also run a vacuum hose from the vent drain tube to the side so if that was the culrit it won't happen again!
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