Hydraulic system filters

[Bill2]

Great Dame. I just looked at your on line manuel and it says to add Dextron III ATF to your reservoir. It is a few sentences after it says it is filled with motor oil . I believe you better get that oil out of your system ASAP. Your only problem is you are in Denmark.

[danes-on-tour]

Hi Ron

Good to hear from you again. Plz give my love to your "better half"

I sure hope that you are not right !!!

I am in Denmark for the foreseeable future and can't rectify the error if you are indeed right. My friend Benny and co owner of the coach is in Thailand at the moment so for the time being if there is a fault I won't be able to correct it.
.

If someone finds out if this is a type-o I would sure like to know. I would have thought that Monaco would have contacted the owners directly of 07 Dip models if they had made a grave mistake like this. I am uncertain of what kind of damage this could cause?

[danes-on-tour]

Originally Posted by Bill2

Great Dame. I just looked at your on line manuel and it says to add Dextron III ATF to your reservoir. It is a few sentences after it says it is filled with motor oil . I believe you better get that oil out of your system ASAP. Your only problem is you are in Denmark.

Thanks Bill.

I hope that you are not right !!!

What a mistake on behalf of Monaco !!!

[Jim Stewart]

Both motor oil and automatic transmission fluid (ATF) (Dex III) are petroleum based products. The ATF has red dye added to visually distinguish it from motor oil. They each have different additives and motor oil has a much thicker vicosity. If you have added a small amount of motor oil in error, it should not create major damage, if the problem is corrected. You should have the system drained and flushed with fresh Dex III, run and then done again. It should not harm it if it sits until you get back, as long as it is not driven much if at all. My motorycycle uses the same motor oil reservoir for both the engine and transmission and uses the same oil.


From the Mobil Oil website:

"Motor oil is for your vehicle's engine. Transmission fluid is used by your steering system to keep its parts moving smoothly. A couple of differences are the following: 1) an engine is designed to deal with the products of combustion, whereas an automatic transmission fluid (ATF) does not see contaminants from fuel burning. An ATF is basically a closed system and the lubricant must last for a long period of time. An engine oil must be drained to remove contaminants after a relatively short time/or mileage compared to an ATF. Similar additive component types are used, but at different levels and different chemistries."

[danes-on-tour]

Thanks Jim

BTW - I like your avatar. It makes me smile every time I see it.

[EngineerMike]

Motorhome hydraulic systems (not to be confused with HWH hydraulics which is separate but frequently confused w/the chassis hydraulics by many) can thrive on a wide variety of fluids. Coach mfgr's frequently use motor oil or tranny fluid as it is inexpensive, widely available, and probably stocked in bulk anyway by the mfgr for use in motors & trannies.

On Alpines, e.g., the long standing fluid was the same motor oil used in the Cummins. When some owners had issues w/the performance of the hydraulic boost on our Bosch HydroMax brake master cylinder, Western RV tried the hydraulic fluid used in our HWH system (it was also listed along w/hundreds of other fluids on the hydrauilics spec sheet). That is a Chevron Rykon 46 hydraulic oil.

Monaco probably switched from Dex3 to motor oil and didn't completely fix the owner's manual. I wouldn't be concerned if I topped off w/the wrong one. IIWM I'd let it ride till the next hydraulic oil change. These fluids have a high affinity for one another & will mix well w/out issues IMO.

[Shuffster]

Some of the hydraulic motor producers recomend 10-40w motor oil for use in systems. (Charlynn for one). I have sucessfully used this oil in numerous production systems because the higher viscosity helps the motor (fan motor in this case) keep the design rpm up. I have seen this same recommendation on other coach forums. I wouldn't hesitate to use it.

[D Barber]

Hi filter # is 84101B available from Ryder Fleet products 1-800-759-6479. Search online for their web site. Cost last time was about 9.00 per filter. I think if you buy 100.00 bucks worth free shipping. They sell all of you filter needs fuel, oil, air etc
Don

[PizzaGuy]

I went and looked at mine this morning. I expected to see "red" fluid in the reservior indicating Dextron 3. It wasn't red. I thought I must have motor oil in mine. I googled dextron 3 and at a BMW site it clearly said that Dextron 3 is light yellow in color. So, Now I really don't know what I have in mine. I don't need to replace my filter for a good while so it is not critical just now but I sure would like to find out before it is too late.

[Jim Stewart]

The Ashland Oil Website says on the MSDS Sheet that Dex III is amber color. I have never seen amber colored Dex III, it has always been pink-red in color. However, Dex III represents a specification and/or standard for ATF. I suppose it is possible that some manufacturers of Dex III do not add the red color. Maybe all of these problems are not really problems after all.

[D Barber]

Hi,
I said that there was free shipping when buying 100.00 from Ryder Fleet, Wrong you need to spend 250.00!! Filter Barn is another place to get some filters and their policy is free shipping for 100.00 in purchases.
Just a note, in an 05 Windsor the Hydraulic fluid color is pinkish. When I replaced my filters I used Dex 3 pink in color
Don

[Pusherpilot]

Originally Posted by D Barber

Hi,
I said that there was free shipping when buying 100.00 from Ryder Fleet, Wrong you need to spend 250.00!! Filter Barn is another place to get some filters and their policy is free shipping for 100.00 in purchases.
Just a note, in an 05 Windsor the Hydraulic fluid color is pinkish. When I replaced my filters I used Dex 3 pink in color
Don

Hi Don,
I suspect that the filter assy on my coach (04 HR Imperial) is the same as yours as our coacher are virtually identical. Is your filter assy a canister about 10" in diameter and 20" tall with a screw in dipstick on the top? Mine is just inside the passenger side rear door.
Does your canister contain 3 25 micron filters you described in your previous post?
Thanks,
Ron

[D Barber]

Hi,
Sounds just the same as ours. Easy change, needed to add almost a qt of fluid when new filters were in
Don

[Pusherpilot]

Originally Posted by D Barber

Hi,
Sounds just the same as ours. Easy change, needed to add almost a qt of fluid when new filters were in
Don

Thanks Don.