Water in V Drive AND Transmission oil ( milky ) - 2001 Launch SSV

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10-24-2021, 06:32 AM
roosm

Water in V Drive AND Transmission oil ( milky ) - 2001 Launch SSV

Hi,

I have a 2001 Launch SSV with a ZF Hurth 45 CW transmission and a Walters V-Drive, not sure of exact model, but says 26 something on it.
Now I have milky oil in both Transmission and V-Drive.

Background:
I pulled the boat out of the water about 4 weeks ago, ran engine on hose at house (as I use it in salt water) and let it sit until yesterday. We haven't seen any freezing temps so shouldn't be an issue there.

Yesterday I went to winterize the boat. Ran the engine until warm, drained water, re-filled with water and anti-freeze and sucked anti-freeze solution through V-drive and transmission oil cooler etc. Drained engine oil, looked ok, dark, but no water or anything.
Today I continued with the v-drive and transmission.
First sucked the V-drive oil out and immediately noticed the oil on the dipstick was milky.
Then I checked the transmission and the oil was milky there as well. I drained all the oil out of both. It was all milky.

I have refilled the trans and v-drive and rotated the prop by hand to at least get some oil flowing around in the v-drive.

What would cause milky oil? In both?
Where do I go from here. I would rather not put her back in the water.
Should I run the engine and see if oil is still milky in trans?

Any ideas are welcome.
Thanks!
10-25-2021, 08:09 AM
Turbinesurgeon

Have the drive units ever been submerged? This ones kinda strange to have water in both since they don’t share anything. Mine had been submerged and the v-drive got water in from the vent on top. I had to pull the filter out and drain and fill a few times to get all the water out. Not sure how the transmission would get water unless your cooler is cracked

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10-25-2021, 09:09 AM
roosm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turbinesurgeon

Have the drive units ever been submerged? This ones kinda strange to have water in both since they don’t share anything. Mine had been submerged and the v-drive got water in from the vent on top. I had to pull the filter out and drain and fill a few times to get all the water out. Not sure how the transmission would get water unless your cooler is cracked

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Well they haven't been submerged, but I did have a lot of water in the bilge once late this season (not sure if I have checked the oil in V-drive or trans since or not).
I had a fatsack leaking since the vent-hose split and turned out the bilge pump was not working properly at that point since it sucked in some what I think was threads from the carpet.

Wouldn't have been enough to cover the unit completely, but maybe enough for it to flush over the unit when coming off plane.
I was wakeboarding and the driver didn't notice that the boat had a lot of water in it, not until I got to the swim-platform and noticed that it was sitting lower than usual did I find all the water in the bilge. I do have a second pump, but that wasn't (now it is) running with an automatic switch, so we got the water out, but it was running with more water than ever before in the bilge for probably at least 15 minutes.

I also heard that someone had ingested water to their transmission through some kind of vent-hole / breather cap or possibly through where the hoses for the external heat exchanger are mounted to the transmission. Also found a statement saying that if you get water past the Output shaft of the transmission it might suck water in past the seal since the seal is designed to let the unit suck in any oil that "leaks" out through seal to lubricate the shaft. I guess, if this is true, normally it would only suck in air and keep the oil in and could make sense since there is always an under pressure inside the transmission.
10-25-2021, 10:10 AM
Turbinesurgeon

Quote:

Originally Posted by roosm

Well they haven't been submerged, but I did have a lot of water in the bilge once late this season (not sure if I have checked the oil in V-drive or trans since or not).
I had a fatsack leaking since the vent-hose split and turned out the bilge pump was not working properly at that point since it sucked in some what I think was threads from the carpet.

Wouldn't have been enough to cover the unit completely, but maybe enough for it to flush over the unit when coming off plane.
I was wakeboarding and the driver didn't notice that the boat had a lot of water in it, not until I got to the swim-platform and noticed that it was sitting lower than usual did I find all the water in the bilge. I do have a second pump, but that wasn't (now it is) running with an automatic switch, so we got the water out, but it was running with more water than ever before in the bilge for probably at least 15 minutes.

I also heard that someone had ingested water to their transmission through some kind of vent-hole / breather cap or possibly through where the hoses for the external heat exchanger are mounted to the transmission. Also found a statement saying that if you get water past the Output shaft of the transmission it might suck water in past the seal since the seal is designed to let the unit suck in any oil that "leaks" out through seal to lubricate the shaft. I guess, if this is true, normally it would only suck in air and keep the oil in and could make sense since there is always an under pressure inside the transmission.

I do know it only takes a few drops of water to turn the oil milky since both units hold very little oil. I replaced the upper gasket on my v-drive as well as the dipstick o-ring, pulled the filter and had to flush it a few times to get the oil clean again. Never had an issue with the transmission getting water but you could do the same thing to see if it returns.

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