Transmission fluid help, please.

[steamgoat]

Maybe a good idea to wander the yard/marina,find a mechanical type person, and ask them to come over and give you some pointers.May save you from messing up or wasting time/money. I am sure many capable cruisers would help if asked, I would. Bruce.[but I am too far away !]

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by steamgoat

Maybe a good idea to wander the yard/marina,find a mechanical type person, and ask them to come over and give you some pointers.May save you from messing up or wasting time/money. I am sure many capable cruisers would help if asked, I would. Bruce.[but I am too far away !]

+1

Just go to your marina office and ask them if there is a friendly hangabout/liveaboard who might lend a 5 minute opinion... At every marina I have been, there is ALWAYS been "that guy" who spends too much leisure time hanging about the office...

Alternatively, I will be in CA in two weeks... I would be happy to take a peek....

[Lancerbye]

I agree with steamgoat. Before you get too caught up with changing stuff that may be perfectly ok find a helpful knowlegable guy around your marina to have a look. In the marina I was in we had a number of retired liveaboards that knew their way around boats. You would be surprised at how much help you can get for a home cooked meal. I helped a lot of people with a lot of different boat problems because I enjoy working on boats. If you were closer I would gladly give you a hand. I am sure you can find someone in that area to do the same.

[Irish rambler]

Hello Megan,
Yes, it's just a figure of transatlantic speech, both descriptions fit, the 2 flexible pipes from the gearbox are going to and from from the oil cooler. If you need any more help please ask.
Hang on in there your'e going the right way, Good Luck

[skipmac]

Hi Megan,

I have a BW Velvetdrive 71C in my Pearson. Great transmission. It will certainly use red transmission fluid so the red you're seeing is probably that.

There should be a couple of hoses about 3/4" diameter going from the transmission going to a cooler. The cooler is a metal cylinder maybe 8-10" long 2-3" diameter with the hoses from the transmission going into the sides and larger hoses for cooling water going into each end.

The transmission fluid should mostly be in the transmission when the engine is not running so if you remove and replace the cooling hoses you won't loose much fluid. Still good idea to put an absorbent pad under the area when doing the swap.

If the hoses are really soft then they are certainly ready to be replaced. But are they the source of the leak or the only leaK?

Good luck. Hope you're able to solve your leak. You've found a great place to ask questions. Lots of experienced and helpful members here.

[hellosailor]

skip-
A common used car ploy is to put some ATF in the brake system in order to soften and swell brake seals. So "rubber" is attacked by ATF. Brand name rubber belt and hose makers (Goodyear, Gates) also generally say to replace all rubber parts every five years in any case, as they will stiffen and oxidize even sitting on a shelf in a closet.
Rubber hoses carrying transmission fluid? Might not be such a bad idea to replace them whether they look good or not, while the maintenance is being done. The outside could look perfectly good, while the inside is being eaten away by the fluid.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

skip-
A common used car ploy is to put some ATF in the brake system in order to soften and swell brake seals. So "rubber" is attacked by ATF. Brand name rubber belt and hose makers (Goodyear, Gates) also generally say to replace all rubber parts every five years in any case, as they will stiffen and oxidize even sitting on a shelf in a closet.
Rubber hoses carrying transmission fluid? Might not be such a bad idea to replace them whether they look good or not, while the maintenance is being done. The outside could look perfectly good, while the inside is being eaten away by the fluid.

Oh you know used car tricks how???

I had heard about rubber aging, like not to buy "new" tires that have been sitting on the rack for a while. I have certainly seen it overhauling my old boat. Just about every old hose I've had to remove I had to cut off. All have turned really hard and totally inflexible.

Since I've replaced all the other hoses guess I should go ahead and replace the hoses going from transmission and oil lines to the coolers. $#!@#$!! one more job to add to the list. "Thanks for that," he said bitterly.

[Irish rambler]

Hello again Megan.
I apologize to you I was remiss in my earlier description of ATF fluid. It's a man thing, we all expect everyone to know what these boys toys things mean, sorry !
ATF means Automatic Transmission Fluid, and is obviously used in Automatic Transmissions Fluid(gearboxes) and is also used in power steering systems.
There are some on here who would advocate changing all types of things for various reasons.
I would say 2 things to that,
1st, my boat was built in 1986 and still has the original flexible hoses from the gearbox.
2nd, if it ain't broke don't fix it.
I hope the repair goes well for you.

[Megan]

Thanks again for all the help, I actually do know what ATF is even though personally I prefer manual transmissions, in cars any way. Putting all the information together I think I am well on the way to fixing this thing, since, darn it, it's clearly broke, I'm reluctant to ask for one of the local dock dudes to help me out, for a couple of reasons, I am one of very few women living aboard alone, make that the only one I know of at this marina and the last thing I need right now is someone who thinks that by virtue of possession of a y chromosome he knows more then I do about all things mechanical, I've had bad experiences with that regarding cars and I expect boats are similar. Asking you guys on this forum allows me to to get good information from people who really do know more than I and has the added advantage that if someone makes a suggestion which doesn't make sense someone will probably warn me, and I don't have to worry about finding myself with some stranger on my boat telling them, gee, I'm not sure that's a good idea...

My plan is this, first I need to to clean the bilge up enough so I can locate the exact location of the leak, depending on the location of the leak I either slurp the ATF out through the fill place, or disconnect the hose over a bucket. Replace the hose with one as good or better, then refill with ATF as needed run the engine and check the ATF level. Then change the rest of the hoses which need it, and I know some do need it cause they feel slimy and squishy, and now, thanks to hellosailor, I'm not surprised since they have been sitting in bilge water with ATF fluid in it and ATF attacks rubber. Then use those oil absorbent pads, the boat equivalent of the pizza box leak detector to make sure nothing else is dumping bad stuff in the bilge.

When I'm done with that I will get busy with the salt water pump in the galley that wants rebuilding. I guess on the whole it's still less maintenance than a house, maybe, sort of... I like the view better anyway.

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by Megan

Thanks again for all the help, I actually do know what ATF is even though personally I prefer manual transmissions, in cars any way. Putting all the information together I think I am well on the way to fixing this thing, since, darn it, it's clearly broke, I'm reluctant to ask for one of the local dock dudes to help me out, for a couple of reasons, I am one of very few women living aboard alone, make that the only one I know of at this marina and the last thing I need right now is someone who thinks that by virtue of possession of a y chromosome he knows more then I do about all things mechanical, I've had bad experiences with that regarding cars and I expect boats are similar. Asking you guys on this forum allows me to to get good information from people who really do know more than I and has the added advantage that if someone makes a suggestion which doesn't make sense someone will probably warn me, and I don't have to worry about finding myself with some stranger on my boat telling them, gee, I'm not sure that's a good idea...
.

I think what you have said DEFINITELY has merit! I have seen it before as well.... Sounds like you have a good handle on things, but let me know if you still need help.... One of the few times in CA where sailing, Disney for the kids, and leisure are the priority instead of WORK!

[hellosailor]

skip-
Onceuponatime, I bought something that I mistook for a thoroughly used cheap car. It probably should have been euthantized. Which segues into something Megan said:

Megan-
Those guys might smile and call you "little lady" but, even if you are a stunner who can stop a clock, that's just coincidence. They'll do their best to blow smoke and take advantage of anyone. Male, female, hermaphrodite, transgendered drag queen...As the Pope was telling me after dinner last night, finding a good mechanic is almost as difficult as finding a priest who can be trusted with the altar boys. Oh, wait, you didn't hear that from me. The Holy See has no problem finding good mechanics, none at all.<G>

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

skip-
Onceuponatime, I bought something that I mistook for a thoroughly used cheap car. It probably should have been euthantized.

Oh yes, one of those. I have one myself that I'm still driving. Should have euthanized that one but thought it was better than it was and made the mistake of putting in a new transmission only to develop engine problems a couple of months later. So now I'm stuck with deciding to off it or go ahead and throw good money after bad to try to keep it going a little longer.

[skipmac]

Hi Megan,

If it would help I'll be out on my boat tonight and can take a picture of my transmission and cooler. You can compare to your setup.

Skip

[Irish rambler]

Hi megan, Go for it girl and you'll be grand, if you get into diffs just stop (it's only 4 captive nuts anyway) explain how far you got and ask some one of us for the next step. Don't go wasting money on fancy marine oil absorbent pads use baby's disposable nappies,( I think you guys call them diapers) it's much cheaper. I'm with you on the manual gearbox, I actually enjoy to drive. By the way if you have to change water hoses on your Perkins they now fit blue silicon rubber which have a much longer life, don't let someone bluff you to put on anything else.

[justlearnin]

Do you perchance have hydrolic steering ? that may give you another possibility to look at if you do.