Winch Hydraulic oil looks like heavy cream
I started this thread because the rear winch on my M920 was operating intermittently. I looked at the sight glasses and both of them were white, so I concluded that my problem was lack of hydraulic oil. I checked my transmission fluid level and saw that it was about 1 1/2in over full. Therefore, the seal in the pump must be bad, causing the hydraulic pump oil to go in to the transmission. (When I got the M920 in January, all the fluids had been drained and I had to fill them up).
So, today I was going to take the hydraulic pump out to have the seal replaced. When I disconnected the hydraulic line from the pump, to my surprise, I drained 40 gallons of what looked like heavy cream.
So, I really wasn't low on hydraulic fluid. The cream looking hydraulic fluid just looked like the white background on the sight gauges. I checked the transmission fluid. There is no sign of the white fluid in there, so I guess I must have just over filled it.
So now I guess I have at least two problems. The first problem is the white hydraulic fluid. I guess there was water in the tank. It must have been a lot for it to make that much fluid look as white as it is. I will need to figure out some way to flush the tank, motor, pump and lines. The second problem is the one I started with-- the winch operates intermittently. Since I already have two of the lines disconnected from the pump, I guess I will take the pump off and have it tested/inspected. If that is good, I guess I will need a way to test the winch motor.