Transfer case fluid brown/milky

[Kjhadfield]

So after more reading after I changed the transfer case fluid has me concerned with how the old fluid looked.

From what I'm reading it will be red if new or like "tar" - which to me, tar is black I guess kind of like oil turns after x amount of miles. Well my old fluid was more of a lite brown maybe milky like chocolate milk type of color. So now I'm thinking that means water and from more reading the tc is a sealed unit minus the vent tube? Ill have to check that out.

Any other thoughts or suggestions? I'm not sure what symptoms I would look for. Would it be only when changing to 4hi or low because I rarely use it and the last time has been 1-2 yrs (when I had a trailer to take to the landfill), It did engage then. I will try to get in the habit of turning the 4hi and low every month or so

Thanks

 

[joecrna]

That sounds like water to me too. Might have experienced some wear on gears and chain. I all spins engaged on not. Not much to do except inspect or replace vent tube. Replace fluid as you already did. Then drive her till she fails. If you didn't get much wear due to lack of lube from water, you may get several more fluid changes before it fails.

 

[koda2000]

The only time oil/ATF will look brown and milky is with water contamination. No doubt in my mind. It pretty much has to enter through the TC vent.

 

[Kjhadfield]

Thanks guys for the confirmation

That sounds like water to me too. Might have experienced some wear on gears and chain. I all spins engaged on not. Not much to do except inspect or replace vent tube. Replace fluid as you already did. Then drive her till she fails. If you didn't get much wear due to lack of lube from water, you may get several more fluid changes before it fails.

So if the tc goes bad then it won't be drivable in 2wd or 4hi/low? I'm guessing if the gears weren't getting properly lubed and wearing it would make a noise/grinding? Since I don't think I ever hear/heard a grinding sound coming from the tc is it still possible the gears did wear some- even w/out noise?

I'll check that vent hose tomorrow and guess I'll drain it again sooner than scheduled maintenance just to see what it looks like.

 

[joecrna]

Thats what I meant. They did wear some. Maybe not enough to worry about. Just fix that vent tube.

 

[koda2000]

If you're not hearing any noises, fix the vent tube, change the fluid and don't worry about. My daughter had a Jeep Wrangler in high school. It used ATF in the xfer case. During an annual service I discovered the seal for the rear driveshaft must have been leaking and had completely emptied the xfer case. I don't know how long it had been like that, but I replaced the seal and refilled it and it never gave us any trouble in 4 more years of use.

 

[Kjhadfield]

I haven't noticed any noise, so that's good. I did just check the hose and felt a split where it connects- on I guess a nipple. I tried following it up (by hand) to see how it's routed but I couldn't get my arm further up- it seemed to be connected (or secured) on top somewhere, not loose/just hanging and I didn't want to start pulling things