water in gearbox

[heavyhorse]

I have a year 2000 peugeot boxer 2ltr petrol with an auto sleeper executive body, whilst driving we could smell oil and oil was leaking out from underneath, and the gears have always been stiff to engage, I have had the vehicle 2 years now. Today my son took the gear box plug out and what rushed out was more water than oil, he has refilled the gearbox with fresh oil and the gearchanging is fine again now, he is going to monitor the situation. My question is does anybody know how the oil got in the gearbox in the first place.

John

[Guest Tracker]

Whilst lubricating my gear very heavy linkage on the 2006 Diesel Boxer today I noticed the engine bay rain water drain ends above the gearbox and so will decant all the rainwater onto the gearbox. Wonderful!

 

I modified this masterpiece - or is that nastypiece - of French design genius by extending it so that it is now about 6" longer and will now empty its corrosion inducing cargo half way down the gearbox instead of on top and over the linkage and gear change shaft on top of the gearbox.

 

Could that be your problem? I also seem to recall that those gearboxes had a gearbox oil level dipstick in the filler plug and that there might have been a rubber washer on it to help seal it against water ingress?

 

HOWEVER, it is quite a few years now since we had that model and I could so easily be wrong - again? No doubt someone will soon tell me if I am!

[Robinhood]

There was a known problem with slightly earlier versions of the Sevel vans, where the drain from the scuttle in front of the windscreen discharged the water directly onto the gearbox, reputedly leading to numerous 'water in gearbox' issues.

 

Indeed, there was a recall (at least by FIAT) to replace the straight rubber drain from the scuttle with one with a 'dog-leg' in it, which discharged the water away from the gearbox.

 

I believe this was sorted around '97 or '98, but given it was a known problem, regardless of the age of your 'van, its worthwhile checking the rubber drain from the scuttle to see whether it has that dog-leg, and also testing where the water discharges.

[heavyhorse]

Thanks Tracker I will give all the replys to my son to investigate, I was putting a tray underneath to catch the oil and it was filling up with water.

John

[nowtelse2do]

heavyhorse  My question is does anybody know how the oil got in the gearbox in the first place. John

John, Could a mechanic have put it in? Dastardly bu**ers you know.  :-D 

Dave

[mondo]

nowtelse2do - 2010-10-09 7:30 PM

heavyhorse  My question is does anybody know how the oil got in the gearbox in the first place. John

John, Could a mechanic have put it in? Dastardly bu**ers you know.  :-D 

Dave

He may have meant how did the water get in!! (lol) (lol)

[heavyhorse]

This is what we are trying to find out, where the water came from, I have had the camper for two years the gears have always been stiff you had to work them, after my son drained the gearbox yesterday on my drive home the gears were like normal gears which suggests the wter has been there all along. Somebody has suggested that it could be getting in through the drive shaft oil seals.

[Guest Tracker]

heavyhorse - 2010-10-10 1:38 PM

 

This is what we are trying to find out, where the water came from, I have had the camper for two years the gears have always been stiff you had to work them, after my son drained the gearbox yesterday on my drive home the gears were like normal gears which suggests the wter has been there all along. Somebody has suggested that it could be getting in through the drive shaft oil seals.

 

Not unless it can flow uphill against the weight of oil in the box!

[Robinhood]

Re my previous post - this was a common problem on Ducatos of that vintage, and the Boxer is likely to be similar.

 

I would suggest you Google "Ducato water in gearbox" (Though substituting Boxer for Ducato also brings up hits).

 

Most of the hits are for diesels, though there are some for petrol, of exactly the same vintage as yours (Ignore those hits for the scuttle seal on the current x250 Sevel van, that is an entirely different problem).

 

Opinion varies on the point of ingress, but focuses around the gear linkage entry point, the reversing light switch, or a breather on the top of the box.

 

It was largely exacerbated by the drain from the scuttle, which would discharge water directly onto the gearbox, where it could collect, and this would have a particularly bad effect if the vehicle stood for large amounts of time.

 

I would strongly advise you do what I suggested above, and ensure that the drain "Hose" from the scuttle (It isn't really a hose, it is a shaped rubber part) is i) is firmly in place, and ii) not discharging directly onto the top of the gearbox.

 

If it doesn't have the revised hose with a dog-leg in the middle (which adjusts the discharge point away from the gearbox) I would suggest you chase a dealer for one, or effect your own modification.

 

[Brian Kirby]

Oil being cheaper than gearboxes, if the gearbox has a drain plug, I would suggest draining that new oil from the box as soon as possible, when the box is nice and hot, leaving it to drain for as long as possible, and then re-filling with new oil again.  It is unlikely one drain and fill will have removed all water from bearings etc, (bearing in mind water is heavier than oil, so will settle in the bottom of the box).

I was under the impression that water drained from the windscreen/scuttle drains onto the top of the box, where it gathered, and eventually entered the box through a breather on the top of the box.  I seem to remember that said breather is not strictly needed, and can be replaced with a bolt? 

However, I also seem to remember that different boxes had differing arrangements, with relatively few having drain plug, level plug, and breather.  Many lacked the drain plug, on the basis no-one any longer changed gearbox oil, and many also lacked the breather, claimed to really only be needed when draining the oil, so a lot of boxes ended up with only a level plug, through which the box can be topped up, but little else without a scavenger.