Pink foam in my Borg-Warner trans.

[chrismurr1]

hello friends, new and interesting problem that is evading me. on my port drive train i have a B-W 1:1 trans. before i dropped this setup in the boat, the trans was drained and refilled with new trans fluid. i ran it for a bit, no leaks. i check the fluid before going out every time (all fluids for that matter) and found that my trans fluid has turned to a pink foam. soooo I went through the drain process again, all foam. i used a hand pump to make sure it was as empty as possible and also noticed what seemd like water in there. with that, i changed the cooler out as i suspect it was sucking in water somewhere.

put fresh trans fluid in, checked for leaks and took it for a spin. when i got back to the dock, checked it again and low and behold, all foam again. now the trans didnt have a funky or burning smell in the fluid and it didnt seem to affect operation but i know its not how its meant to operate. what could i possibly be missing? is there an additive i can put in there to remove the foam that remains? is that possibly why it keeps returning, because i cannot completely remove it all by simply draining?

any input would be helpful.

thanks, Chris

 

[mkast]

Re: Pink foam in my Borg-Warner trans.

Have you looked at the seawater transmission cooler?

 

[chrismurr1]

Re: Pink foam in my Borg-Warner trans.

yes and replaced it with another. i have a few spares that i had pressure tested so the cooler currently on the system is a known good one with no leaks.

 

[mkast]

Re: Pink foam in my Borg-Warner trans.

What other source of water does the transmission have?

 

[chrismurr1]

Re: Pink foam in my Borg-Warner trans.

thats it, if it isnt drawing water through a leak in the cooler than it cant get it anywhere else. the one thing i now notice that i didnt mention in my original post is that although i do have the foam in the trans again, there isnt the presence of water anymore. before the cooler change, the water was quite noticable right away and the trans was over full at that point. not the case now, just foam.

 

[Don S]

Re: Pink foam in my Borg-Warner trans.

What other source of water does the transmission have?

There is no other source of water to the tranny ............ well, unless it's under water.

 

[mkast]

Re: Pink foam in my Borg-Warner trans.

The transmission cooler copper tube burst because of poor winterization on a charter boat.
After I changed the cooler and fluid, the foam was still present.
I told the owner to take the boat for a ride.
When the temperature of the transmission came up to operating temperature, the water evaporated, leaving only clean transmission fluid.

 

[chrismurr1]

Re: Pink foam in my Borg-Warner trans.

would we all agree that only water can turn trans fluid into a nice pink foam?? if that is the case, then i will change it out a few more times to get the new trans to clean all the foam out of the system. perhaps one day out isnt enough to flush her good.