My Tranny oil loooks like a Cafe Moca

Went to drain my tranny oil tonight and was kind of shocked at what came out when I pumped it out. When I first checked the fluid it looked ok but old but not like this. I am afraid water is getting in there. maybe through the tranny cooler? I don't know. I am going to add more Dexron and try running it again and seeing what it looks like, drain it again... until it is clear.

I may wait to take it to the lake, seemed like it ran a little warm. I have a Fake-A-Lake hooked up to it and water comes out of the exhaust but it seems like the exhaust manifolds get hotter than when in the water. I may buy one of those valves that pluges into the water intake line and take the Fake-A-Lake back to the marina.

Doesn't look good, yet the boat seemd to run fine when I took it out for about an hour a few days ago.

Also I drained my 30wt. oil and I am going to add 40wt. Castrol oil.


BTW- Check out the pump I got at Sears, attaches to your drill and pumps fluid out. worked great! Had to get a couple feet of clear PVC hose and some hose fittings

randy,if you change that oil 5 times it wouldnt be enough, the pcm transmissions do not like water!!!!! it causes the cast iron seal rings to sieze on the drum and spin in the case causing creating grooves and forward to slip. remove the cooler and pressure test.unlike a borg warner which has cascading oil going thru the cooler(low pressure) the pcm has more pressure going to the cooler circiuit which oil most likely will go out the back of the boat. try to change the oil 3 times before running it. it is impossible to get all of the water out of these transmissions. not trying to scare you but if i rebuild 10 of these trannies 5 of them are from getting water in them. they do not like water at all. try to figure out where the water is coming from. when you change that oil fill the trans to the top to dilute oil as much as possible, get it to temp and drain, repeat 2 more times...

That's nasty. I've seen pepto-bismol looking fluid but not Cafe Au Lait. Is that an indication of rust?
Your oil cooler is probably in good shape. I bet water got in the tranny by them leaving the boat in the water with that leaky shaft seal.
Worst case, bolt on a Velvet Drive.

Hey Eric, I'm curious what you think about this...
Running 20 SAE for a while (10-20 hours)then change back to Dexron. Keep it under 3k rpms. The oil has more/better detergents than dexron. What's your opinion?    

most straight weights are detergent free, im not an expert on oil, there really is not a need for a detergent oil in a trans, now for a engine it is crucial to run detergent oil for all the deposits created from fuel and blow by.
i would switch to dexron and flush it many times.
randy if you have a pump use the pump. hopefully you will be sucessful at cleaning this trans out. the oil gets trapped behind the pistons and in the valve area and creates nothing but problems

keep going, usually the cooler self drains but you may have to remove and pressure test. i block one side with a 3/8 npt pipe plug and istall air chuck on other side and pressurize with about 50 psi then i put under water and look for bubbles

Jimbo, I think you are right. I talked to my friend I bought the boat from, and he said that the bilge did fill with water and covered the tranny.
I am hoping to get the boat back from the trailer   shop in the next day or two. I am off this week so I want to put it on the water and change the fluid. I have over 3 gal of Dexton to use.
I will report back an let you know how it comes out...

Eric, he pulled the boat out of the water in early November '05 and parked it in his garage until I bought it last month. He told me the tranny was covered with water, my guess is the water seeped in through the fill/drain hole and, like you said, sat on the bottom, like a bottle of un-shaken italian dressing.
So, how much damage do you think this has caused?

I was thinking of heading out there (Westbranch). The weather forcast looked real nice Sunday but as of this morning that has all changed. Go figure, you can't predict the weather in NE Ohio.

Buckeyes are sick. They make everyone else look bad. That Gonzalez guy can run as well as Ginn, Jr.

I agree, good winter project, he may have gotten all the goo out and it could easily go for years

hey randy, are you pretty mechanically inclined? if you could pull that trans we could buzz thru it one saturday morning, dont worry saturdays are my kind heart days I turn off the charge clock on friday at 5:00, it would only take a couple of hours.

basically a seal and gasket kit, we'll tear it apart and clean it and check the rest of the condition of the trans, I have a ton of hard parts for these trannies in case we run into a problem    

you worry to much, we'll go step by step on the alignment i have all the tools you need, just let me know when your ready. it would be a good time to do the dripless, media blast the prop and rudder,put the shaft on v-blocks and check it etc....   eric

the v-blocks check it for straightness, it wont hurt anything changing that oil, it looks like rain again, i dont know

good to hear you got out, pretty tuff getting all that oil out? maybe the initiative will pay off on the oil changes, thats why i said if you changed the oil 10 times it would'nt be enough. pcm's really hate water inside them they really do not last very long and the water causes major damage if left alone, what i mean by major damage is resleeving the case,new forward drum, seal and gasket kit, clutch kit,   800.00 to 1000.00 in parts. alot of times it is wiser to buy a new trans because of the $$$$ for the parts