General CW1541 Oil Milky....

[MDrost1]

Hello,

I have a 1 year old factory refurbished CW1541. I change the oil regularly. I changed the oil a few days ago, and notice in the sight glass that after some washes, the oil looks milky.

What can cause this?

Any fixes that you can recommend?

It sounds fine and seems to be working great. Any advice, as always, is appreciated!

Mike

 

[mac]

The most common cause I've found is that one of the seals around a plunger is leaking causing water to get into the oil.

 

[carwashireland]

Mac is right. Either a faulty seal or a cracked ceramic!

 

[MEP001]

Expect to find at least one cracked ceramic. You should replace the bolt kit whenever you remove them - it comes with the seals.

 

[MDrost1]

Bummer. Ok. I'll look into it.

I've noticed differen brands of 80/90 oil have different colors. Is one better?

 

[MDrost1]

So,

The 80/90 weight oil I put into the pump was from O'rielly Auto Parts. It was like maple syrup in color. It would get foamy during a cycle.

On a hunch, I went over to the Auto Value Auto Parts and bought their proprietary 80/90 oil. Much darker. Doesn't foam up. Looks normal to me.

Is this normal, or possible? Am I suffering from "paralysis by analysis"?

Mike

 

[MEP001]

You don't put 80W90 in a General pump. ND-30W is the best auto parts substitute.

 

[MDrost1]

MEP001,

Are you sure? This is the grade oil that the local tech recommend and it seems to be on this data sheet as well.

http://www.generalpump.com/PDFs/TECHNICAL DATA/OilRecommend.pdf

I won't second guess you....I am far more incline to make an awful error.

Let me know what you think.

Mike D.

 

[MEP001]

Sorry, you're right, I didn't remember that model number being the big dual-manifold one. There certainly aren't many Generals that call for gear oil.

It's not likely you'll have a cracked ceramic on that one, but it's very likely to have bolt seals leaking by which will usually get into the crankcase. It sounds like you've determined it was the gear oil foaming, which was probably from a lack of anti-foam agents in the first oil you bought.

 

[WikiWash]

Sorry, you're right, I didn't remember that model number being the big dual-manifold one. There certainly aren't many Generals that call for gear oil.

It's not likely you'll have a cracked ceramic on that one, but it's very likely to have bolt seals leaking by which will usually get into the crankcase. It sounds like you've determined it was the gear oil foaming, which was probably from a lack of anti-foam agents in the first oil you bought.

You might have been thinking about General Pump T1991 or similar pump does take Non detergent 30 weight. Also for the particular problem above this pump does get cracked ceramic plungers.

 

[MDrost1]

Thanks,

For few days, I've been watching it with the new oil....Dark and normal. Not like the other stuff. It really made me think something was wrong.

Thanks for the help!