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This cant be good...

I was inspecting and cleaning the '66 yesterday and I saw something underneath the rear that shouldn't be there. The engine is still out of the car. But under the rear I saw a spot of yellowy snot looking stuff. I could smell it. It was gear lube. Yes, the trans axle got water in it from Hurricane Katrina. But this was something new... and where was it coming from. At first I thought it was coming from the drain plug then I wiped away all the grit and grime and that's when I saw where it was coming from. From a hole in the bottom of the transaxle. The case was eaten away from the inside. I could feel the ring gear. Not good. check it out...

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dw

Reply to
dragenwagen
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Ugh! You think the flooding did that? Seems more like it happened prior to the flood and you're just now noticing it. Isn't the gear lube a foamy yellow color from the action of tranny running?

Reply to
Michael Cecil

Well the trans actually ran fine before the storm, never slipped out of gear, shifted smoothly and didnt whine and it never leaked that bad. Since the storm the thing has pretty much has just sat there. When I drained it I got about a cup or two of water, black smelly stuff, Grey sludge, Black sludge and then the yellow snotty stuff.. Also the the drain plugs had there usual big mushroom of metalic shavings on it, and I did see a couple bits that looked like the edge of gear teeth. When I pulled both bottom plugs, I had to stick my little finger in the hole to get the thing to start draining. There was about a good 3/4" of sludge in the bottom of the case. But judging by the amout of loose grey flakey stuff on the inside of the bell housing, I could only imagine most of that grey sludge was exfoliated magnesium on the inside of the case.

dw

Reply to
dragenwagen

Maybe when the flood happened the car was lifted up and banged on some obstruction, to cause a single failure point like that.

Reply to
Michael Cecil

plain water is very corrosive(when it sits in contact with) the magnesium that the engine case and transaxle are made of....i can only speculate that salt water may be worse....ever see the inside of an engine case that sat with water in the oil? been known to eat all the way through the sump....

Reply to
Joey Tribiani

That's true Joey. I have seen eaten away cases in junkyards where rain water has been sitting in an old engine.

My old engine - I have partially disassembled the old case...well I got as far as I needed to. I pulled the heads off and one cylinder (#4)... on the inside I can see all this grey chunky stuff inside the case. The lifter bores are partially eaten through, meaning the edges are real rough and there is material missing, same when I pulled off the sump plate - its real thin and rough and there is alot of material missing from the bottom of the inside of the case. BTW the crank will not turn anymore, so I didn't even bother going any further. That's why I went ahead and had a complete motor built, not using any parts from the old motor. Which by the way it runs like a top!

As for the trans... same thing, I think. I don't think the car floated in the water. There is a piece of wood under the battery! dw

Reply to
dragenwagen

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