water in v-drive Water in V-Drive

[Jgrgich 0]

On my "02 Avalanche series III I have water in my v-drive. I think I've narrowed down where the water is coming from.  On the top of the v-drive sea water comes in, cools the v-drive oil (via a small cooling tube) and the heads to the impeller.  On the top of the v-drive is also the dip stick.  This passes through the v-drive cover.  I removed the cover to troubleshoot a flow problem I was having with a fake lake (different problem).  Before I reinstalled the cover, cleaned the matting surfaces and used some RTV gasket maker to replace the gasket I destroyed.  Checked for water leaks next time out and no water leaks... GREAT! Well, not so great.  I was so focussed on preventing water from leaking, I forgot to ensure no water got into the dipstick hole.  As I was checking fluids before our next trip, I noticed my v-drive oil was milky.  So I drained it...a lot of it!  Filled and drained it again.  Oil started clearing up so I filled it a third time and now just waiting for the weekend to go run it again.  Other posts I've read have said it takes 5-6 times out and flushing before the oil will be normal.  I'm ok with that (I've become a pro at filling and draining!).  My question is do I need to be worried about bearings, bearing surfaces, bare surfaces rusting inside the v-drive?  Do need to have my v-drive rebuilt?  Or have others had similar experiences and after flushing ran with it without a problem? V-drive seems to run just fine right now....thanks for help!

[Troy 234]

Sorry I can't really help, I would think though that you drained and filled that the V-drive should be fine. Just keep an eye on it and make sure the milky oil doesn't come back. 

[rhino89523 34]

I'm with Troy, I would run it until it started making noise you will probably be O.K.  we have a snow blower at work that runs an 90 degree angle box to get from the John Deere motor to the fan. It fills with water from it being packed in snow going through heat cycles and it sucks water in through the breather vent. It runs in varying degrees of contaminated fluid depending on time of year usage etc. Its a 1976 and still works great and I've never had to change out bearings in that box. We even forgot to store it on clean fluid one year and it still works.

Before getting beaten up...no I don't recommend water in the gearbox but you have done everything you can for now other than running it. Heat is good to burn out water in fluids. All motors and gears boxes pull in a little condensation and running them is what burns it out.

Point of my whole rant...run it for now you will probably be fine. There isn't a lot going on inside those V drives.