Axle Breathers, Water Ingress, and other issues......

[TDLightweight]

As it turns out, Andy's truck was not the only victim from our Land Rover Play Day at Triangle beach.

I decided to check the oil in my axles last night and found grey mayonnaise :shock:

Serves me right for forgetting that I have not as yet swapped out the stock IIA axle breathers for extended breathers. Further serves me right for stopping mid lake. This got me thinking about other areas and my guess is that the Transmission is likely the next vulnerable component if you do not install wading plugs.

I see an evening spent doing fluid changes next Monday.

In other news the oil feed line to my turbo has has developed two leaks. One at either end being the turbo fitting and the remote oil filter but actually on the crimped fitting wher eit attaches to the hose. This wasn't bad before the play day but is so bad now that manifold smoke off the Turbo is entering the cab on occasion and my parking spot at work has been renamed "Lake Castrol"

I have a couple of questions which hopefully some of you in your experience can answer.

1) Do the extended axle breather's work well? Does anyone have a spare set?

2) What is the best way to clean my axles and transmission out? I figure drain and fill, drive, and then drain and fill again.

3) What is the standard oil inlet fitting for a Garrett T3? I figure I can just get an Areoquip or Russell hose from Mopac.

4) Oh and the Peugeot Diesel puts out an incredible amount of blowby, any opinion on the 300TDI oil seperator and how well they work? I figure I can adapt one easily to work on the Peugeot.

5) Lastly I am thinking of getting my Turbocharger rebuilt...any recommendations for a good company to do this?

Thanks Guys,

[roverdevin]

Brody,

I had my turbo rebuilt by ADP in Surrey. I can't remember the exact price, but I was happy and it came back looking like new. I'll try to find the invoice. It was for a new compressor wheel and seals.

Devin

[Dave_F]

1) Do the extended axle breather's work well? Does anyone have a spare set?

Yes they do as they prevent pressure build up, resulting in leaking seals. What happens is that under normal operating, when you go into water its cold and your diff si hot...without breathers the oil will expand resulting in usually leaking out at the pinion seal. The breathers allow the fluid to expand without blowing your seals. All you need is the axle fitting and some tubing of the appropriate length to get it high enough.

2) What is the best way to clean my axles and transmission out? I figure drain and fill, drive, and then drain and fill again.

Run the truck up to normal operating temp, drain completely then refill. The remaining mayo will not cause you any problems. I generally change both diffs fluids (along with trany/transfer case) once a year.

Make sure you grease up all your ujoints within a day or two of wading otherwise they "will" seize up.

Lube...lube...lube...

[Bill E.]

when you go into water its cold and your diff si hot...without breathers the oil will expand

Really? :-?

[Dave_F]

when you go into water its cold and your diff si hot...without breathers the oil will expand

Really? :-?

or something like that...How about...as you drive and the gear oil and gears heat up the pressure inside the diff goes up. The breather tubes allow that pressure to equalize with outside air pressure so that seals don't get blown out.

Better Bill?

[Arcades]

I always thought that the axle breathers were there to allow pressure/gasses to escape from the diffs during normal use so the pressure doesn't blow your seals... When you hit water the water flows into the diff through the breathers which is made worse by the fact that the cooling oil contracts and forms a partial vacuum sucking in through the breathers.... Toy diffs have check valves in the breathers to allow one way flow... Still not perfect in water but better than nothing... Best is to get a wading kit on there... It's on my list...

Btw I'm in no means an expert in the matter. Just my understanding and feel free to correct me.

[Bill E.]

or something like that...How about...as you drive and the gear oil and gears heat up the pressure inside the diff goes up. The breather tubes allow that pressure to equalize with outside air pressure so that seals don't get blown out.

Better Bill?

Better Dave, I knew you meant that. :bounce:

:arrow: Arcades explains things well.... Of course not only Toyotas have check valves, early Series do as well. Don't forget wading plugs for the clutch housing and the timing case cover.