Water in my diffs (and T-case?)

tylertakesphotos

tylertakesphotos

New member
I just bought a 14 JKUR from the original owner 2 weeks ago and dropped it off this morning to get 5.13 gears installed. I got some troubling news from the shop, they found a lot of water in both diffs, more than they have ever seen. It does have extended diff breathers front/rear and the axle tubes were clean and free of any water, mud, grit, sand, etc..

The driver's side rear axle seal was leaking a bit, but not enough to let that much water in. It was front/rear also.

This is where it gets more weird, there was signs of a leak on the cross member under the trans, and it looks like a very watery oil coming out of the T-case, maybe out of the linkage. I've never heard of that and the shop hasn't seen that either. Having them drian the T-case tomorrow to verify that.

This is worrysome to me, has anyone seen/experienced anything like it?
They said the axle shafts and lockers looked fine, and it's getting new pinions and gears in the diffs, so as long as the water doesn't return I'm not to worried about those... But the T-case has me pretty worried if there is in fact water in it.
 

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Moochie

Moochie

Active Member
Transfer case also has a breather tube which ends up somewhere on the fire wall. It can become disconnected at the transfer case allowing water to enter. Possibly???
 
2nd.gunman

2nd.gunman

Caught the Bug
Not a big deal really. Your axle leak was probably caused by the water rather than letting water in.

I’ve seen much much worse that was fine after a good clean and oil change


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tylertakesphotos

tylertakesphotos

New member
OverlanderJK said:
That picture of the diff doesn’t look like the worst I’ve ever seen.


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Click to expand...

2nd.gunman said:
Not a big deal really. Your axle leak was probably caused by the water rather than letting water in.

I’ve seen much much worse that was fine after a good clean and oil change


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Click to expand...

That's good to hear guys, thanks. The shop was making it to sound like it was a major amount of water and they hadn't seen anything like it. Not that we get a lot of big water like that in Utah short of driving into a lake or large river. We don't have any sort street floods... So it probably isn't common around here.

I'm not really worried about the diffs, just glad I caught them. The transfer case is a bit more worrying, but I did engage 4 low and 4 hi a couple times so far and I can't say I heard or felt anything strange for the short periods I was in it.
 
RESURECTIONJK

RESURECTIONJK

Hooked
Moochie said:
Transfer case also has a breather tube which ends up somewhere on the fire wall. It can become disconnected at the transfer case allowing water to enter. Possibly???
Click to expand...

^^^this^^^ I forgot about the breather when we spoke about it. Very possible. And all it takes is one good water crossing or submerging and it’ll take on water. And keep in mind, it only takes a few ounces of water to totally ruin the fluid.
 
jdofmemi

jdofmemi

Active Member
If that was the worst they have seen, they haven't been around long.

Clean it up, check all the seals and the breathers, and check it after any water crossings.

You should be fine.
 
zimm

zimm

Caught the Bug
No big deal. Extend those breather hoses on the axles so they don't suck in water. Front hose up to the brake booster and make a couple of loops. Rear hose up through rear fender and up behind the taillight and make a couple of loops. Trans breather is already on top of the motor. Not sure where the x-fer case terminates, haven't found that one yet.
 
OverlanderJK

OverlanderJK

Resident Smartass
tylertakesphotos said:
That's good to hear guys, thanks. The shop was making it to sound like it was a major amount of water and they hadn't seen anything like it. Not that we get a lot of big water like that in Utah short of driving into a lake or large river. We don't have any sort street floods... So it probably isn't common around here.

I'm not really worried about the diffs, just glad I caught them. The transfer case is a bit more worrying, but I did engage 4 low and 4 hi a couple times so far and I can't say I heard or felt anything strange for the short periods I was in it.
Click to expand...

If it’s a shop that knows anything they would say it’s not a big deal. You do have water in Utah.


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RESURECTIONJK

RESURECTIONJK

Hooked
longarmwj said:
Wait so there’s more then just Moab and Polygamy in Utah????


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Only slightly more than Moab and Polygamy... on occasion, a very rare occasion we get to vote. But it usually gets overruled by the church anyway. And we do get beer that’s diluted with Piss. Sometimes we get spoiled a little bit when our basketball team accidentally wins a game... floods though, at least by Midwest standards don’t exist. But every once in a great while it will rain for a day and we get these stupid parking lot lakes because more of our city is built at the bottom of a dried up lake bed. Cuz you know, that sounded like a good idea 150 years ago.
 
tylertakesphotos

tylertakesphotos

New member
Update, the T-case was fine and actually didn't have water in it, but I went ahead and had all the fluids changed for a price of mind anyway.

New gears are in and the diff oil is obviously changed so all is right in the world and she's driving great. Better than great, the 5.13 gears are 👌👌👌

Thanks for the input and peice of mind fellas!

longarmwj said:
Is the car fax clean? Doesn’t show any water submersion? Have they checked the transmission for water?
Click to expand...

Yes, the only thing on the Carfax was a bunch of dealer maintenance records.



OverlanderJK said:
If it’s a shop that knows anything they would say it’s not a big deal. You do have water in Utah.
Click to expand...

Well yeah, I know we have water, I was just saying we are not in the heavy water Southern state flood type water places and stuff.

longarmwj said:
Wait so there’s more then just Moab and Polygamy in Utah????
Click to expand...

Mostly just Mormons and Polygamy. Moab is in Utah, but it likes to pretend like it's not and gets a sort of pass. You can almost forget it is in Utah till you try to buy booze.

RESURECTIONJK said:
Only slightly more than Moab and Polygamy... on occasion, a very rare occasion we get to vote. But it usually gets overruled by the church anyway. And we do get beer that’s diluted with Piss. Sometimes we get spoiled a little bit when our basketball team accidentally wins a game... floods though, at least by Midwest standards don’t exist. But every once in a great while it will rain for a day and we get these stupid parking lot lakes because more of our city is built at the bottom of a dried up lake bed. Cuz you know, that sounded like a good idea 150 years ago.
Click to expand...

You forgot green Jello with pineapple in it.
 
RESURECTIONJK

RESURECTIONJK

Hooked
tylertakesphotos said:
Update, the T-case was fine and actually didn't have water in it, but I went ahead and had all the fluids changed for a price of mind anyway.

New gears are in and the diff oil is obviously changed so all is right in the world and she's driving great. Better than great, the 5.13 gears are [emoji108][emoji108][emoji108]

Thanks for the input and peice of mind fellas!



Yes, the only thing on the Carfax was a bunch of dealer maintenance records.





Well yeah, I know we have water, I was just saying we are not in the heavy water Southern state flood type water places and stuff.



Mostly just Mormons and Polygamy. Moab is in Utah, but it likes to pretend like it's not and gets a sort of pass. You can almost forget it is in Utah till you try to buy booze.



You forgot green Jello with pineapple in it.
Click to expand...

Oh and funeral potatoes.
 
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