Water fording demil m1123

[tgejesse]

Forgive me, I’m learning as I go here.

I just purchased a m1123 from govplanet that had a hack-job demil for all the water fording stuff. I’ve identified and ordered replacement hoses and CDR valve as that was missing.

Now, I have a leak of what I believe is power steering from what appears to be a fill cap down below the alternator. The color of the fluid is red, I’m pretty sure it’s power steering fluid.
The cap has a breather nozzle which I’ve identified is part of the water fording kit.

Anyone with a yermo m1123 have experience patching up a water fording demil? My biggest concern right now is missing something. I don’t care for water fording capabilities, I just want to ‘un f*ck’ crap they messed with.
thanks for all the support!

 

[Coug]

Yes power steering.
Fluid will be DEX 3 transmission fluid (do not use DEX 6 even though it says backwards compatible; that is only for transmissions)

Open up the cap and check fluid level. If it shows as good then run truck for a minute or two with the cap off and see what the level does.
If fluid level is high then drain out a little.
If fluid looks frothy when running, there might be a bad seal or something allowing air into the system?

When running the fluid level will lower a little bit because the pressure swells the hoses a little, this is normal.

As for using a regular cap vs the vented one, I don't think there is any difference in what will happen. The standard cap won't seal it off so tight that fluid won't escape, so if there is an issue that is at best a bandaid.


My personal opinion (and someone else might tell me I'm wrong on this) but as long as the fluid level is good, then I wouldn't worry about a little fluid leaking through the vent at the moment.

 

[tgejesse]

Yes power steering.
Fluid will be DEX 3 transmission fluid (do not use DEX 6 even though it says backwards compatible; that is only for transmissions)

Open up the cap and check fluid level. If it shows as good then run truck for a minute or two with the cap off and see what the level does.
If fluid level is high then drain out a little.
If fluid looks frothy when running, there might be a bad seal or something allowing air into the system?

When running the fluid level will lower a little bit because the pressure swells the hoses a little, this is normal.

As for using a regular cap vs the vented one, I don't think there is any difference in what will happen. The standard cap won't seal it off so tight that fluid won't escape, so if there is an issue that is at best a bandaid.


My personal opinion (and someone else might tell me I'm wrong on this) but as long as the fluid level is good, then I wouldn't worry about a little fluid leaking through the vent at the moment.

I should have added, the fluid is ‘pouring’ out. It’s significant enough where I heard it dripping and forming a puddle under the vehicle.

I appreciate your feedback!

 

[Coug]

I should have added, the fluid is ‘pouring’ out. It’s significant enough where I heard it dripping and forming a puddle under the vehicle.

I appreciate your feedback!

no worries.

pouring out is different.
Have you at least verified it's at the correct level when not running?

(when I replaced by pump I had to overfull all the way to the top before it would bleed the air out fully, so it wouldn't surprise me if it's overfull)

 

[tgejesse]

no worries.

pouring out is different.
Have you at least verified it's at the correct level when not running?

(when I replaced by pump I had to overfull all the way to the top before it would bleed the air out fully, so it wouldn't surprise me if it's overfull)

It does appear to be over full. The line is between the cold fill line and the hot fill line (while cold).

I’ve been doing some additional googling, I sure hope this isn’t related to vampire in any way.

 

[tgejesse]

I did just check my transfer case and it over flowed a small amount. I’m not sure if being on an incline / decline would be enough for this much overflow. I hope this all isn’t vampire. It looks like the transfer case was rebuilt in 6/09 by Barstow

 

[NDT]

Rest easy vampire was fixed on later model trucks like yours. Your issue is an air leak somewhere in the power steering circuit that is allowing air in, which causes the fluid to become aerated, which causes it to overflow.

 

[tgejesse]

Rest easy vampire was fixed on later model trucks like yours. Your issue is an air leak somewhere in the power steering circuit that is allowing air in, which causes the fluid to become aerated, which causes it to overflow.

I’m in complete agreement. I just replaced the fluid with dex III and as soon as I tried to turn the wheel, I was getting some aggressive grinding horrible noise and then came and looked at the valve and milky fluid spitting everywhere.

....peace of mind for vampire though.

 

[kungflu72]

I’m in complete agreement. I just replaced the fluid with dex III and as soon as I tried to turn the wheel, I was getting some aggressive grinding horrible noise and then came and looked at the valve and milky fluid spitting everywhere.

....peace of mind for vampire though.

I know this is a little older thread, but what did you ever find causing your aerated/foaming power steering fluid? I been fighting the same thing for the last couple months. I changed the PS pump and all the low pressure lines. No joy! Bled & re-bled several times. Still foaming the fluid. I bypassed the small PS cooler to remove that possibility. In my opinion, my next possibility is O-rings on the high pressure lines. I do have a mile marker hydraulic winch on the truck also. And there is no external leaks anywhere. Any guidance/suggestion would be appreciated.