racclarkson@gmail.com
Legendary Member
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2015
- Messages
- 3,722
- Status
- OWNER - I own a Hatteras Yacht
- Hatteras Model
- 55' CONV -Series I (1979 - 1988)
I have been unable to find any reference to my question by searching the forum. Hope someone will have plowed this ground for me.
I have had great service from my transmissions with no prior issues to report.
Recently, I flushed my port & stbd 1271s including the ZF BW250 gears' raw water circuits with a diluted phosphoric acid solution as a part of regular maintenance. A few days later I changed the oil in both P & S gears after about 175 hours of the recommended 200 hour interval. The stbd. oil was the expected syrupy color. The oil from the port gear showed some milkiness indicating water in the oil. There wasn't very much water; the oil resembled more new oil (honey colored) than it did cloudiness. Letting some of it sit in a jar didn't show anything. There was no noted increase in the fluid level noted on the dipstick, and I always check prior to a start. I refilled the gear with Delo 400 SAE 40, the same oil I have been running. I have run the motors at the dock and just a brief time to change dock assignments. There is no indication of water in the new oil either by color or change in level on the dipstick. But, I noticed no difference in the P & S oil prior to the change either. I also don't see any sheen from the exhaust. If there is intrusion it's going to be a pinhole leak.
So it looks like if I have a problem, I caught it early. Possibly some freshwater got in the dip tube from a careless wash down of the area. I'll tackle the problem later in the week. I'm going to pressure test the oil cooler, and I'm going to drain the oil and look for signs of water in the new oil. The gear holds about 9 gallons. BTW, there is no filter to change on these gears; they use a scraper screen. I suppose if the oil is clear I could have it tested, but it probably wouldn't show anything meaningful until it's run up to temp for a few hours at least. It might even show residual moisture from the old oil.
I have the owner's manual on the gear, but can't locate a service manual. A recent request for a parts diagram hasn't been successful.
1. Does anyone have one they can copy (BW250, 1.510:1, serials 1770 and 1820 or anything close)?
2. Does anyone have a recommendation on a source for a parts/service
manual other than ZF who hasn't been responsive?
3. Does anyone have personal experience pressure testing the oil cooler? I was planning on 5 psi.
4. Has anyone had personal experience with pulling the cooler on this transmission.
5. Does anyone have any other ideas?
Access to the cooler is good and the job seems straightforward enough if it fails the pressure test. But Germans being German, I might be attempting to disassemble a watch.
Any advice or counsel from anyone having actually been there and done that would be appreciated. Sorry for the length of this post, but I wanted to give as much detail as I could and not waste anyone's time. Thx, Robert
I have had great service from my transmissions with no prior issues to report.
Recently, I flushed my port & stbd 1271s including the ZF BW250 gears' raw water circuits with a diluted phosphoric acid solution as a part of regular maintenance. A few days later I changed the oil in both P & S gears after about 175 hours of the recommended 200 hour interval. The stbd. oil was the expected syrupy color. The oil from the port gear showed some milkiness indicating water in the oil. There wasn't very much water; the oil resembled more new oil (honey colored) than it did cloudiness. Letting some of it sit in a jar didn't show anything. There was no noted increase in the fluid level noted on the dipstick, and I always check prior to a start. I refilled the gear with Delo 400 SAE 40, the same oil I have been running. I have run the motors at the dock and just a brief time to change dock assignments. There is no indication of water in the new oil either by color or change in level on the dipstick. But, I noticed no difference in the P & S oil prior to the change either. I also don't see any sheen from the exhaust. If there is intrusion it's going to be a pinhole leak.
So it looks like if I have a problem, I caught it early. Possibly some freshwater got in the dip tube from a careless wash down of the area. I'll tackle the problem later in the week. I'm going to pressure test the oil cooler, and I'm going to drain the oil and look for signs of water in the new oil. The gear holds about 9 gallons. BTW, there is no filter to change on these gears; they use a scraper screen. I suppose if the oil is clear I could have it tested, but it probably wouldn't show anything meaningful until it's run up to temp for a few hours at least. It might even show residual moisture from the old oil.
I have the owner's manual on the gear, but can't locate a service manual. A recent request for a parts diagram hasn't been successful.
1. Does anyone have one they can copy (BW250, 1.510:1, serials 1770 and 1820 or anything close)?
2. Does anyone have a recommendation on a source for a parts/service
manual other than ZF who hasn't been responsive?
3. Does anyone have personal experience pressure testing the oil cooler? I was planning on 5 psi.
4. Has anyone had personal experience with pulling the cooler on this transmission.
5. Does anyone have any other ideas?
Access to the cooler is good and the job seems straightforward enough if it fails the pressure test. But Germans being German, I might be attempting to disassemble a watch.
Any advice or counsel from anyone having actually been there and done that would be appreciated. Sorry for the length of this post, but I wanted to give as much detail as I could and not waste anyone's time. Thx, Robert
