So I wasn't paying attention and I add a couple of liters of hydraulic fluid in the def. Now I know a lot of you are going to say drop the fluid and start again. But I am wondering what the long term effects would be if I just let it go.
Short and long term effects will be a drain on your wallet. Clean that def tank. Truck Shop
Thousands of dollars, soon. Here's a helpful bit and the link posted after: "What Do I Do If I Discover I Have Been Using Contaminated DEF? You will have to drain the DEF tank, clean it thoroughly with de-ionized water, and perform a system flush with de-ionized water to make sure that contaminated DEF has been completely removed. Impure DEF can clog your DEF injector and damage expensive components within the SCR systems. If this happens, your SCR system will be seriously damaged, and damage most likely will not be covered under your warranty. Storage containers that have held contaminated DEF must be cleaned in a similar manner or replaced to prevent them from contaminating future supplies. Once you have cleaned out the DEF storage tank/reservoir and the SCR system on the affected unit, dispose of the contaminated DEF. The rules for DEF disposal vary by state and city. In some jurisdictions they will require you to hand it over to competent waste-treatment professionals. If any of your DEF has spilled on the ground, absorb it with an inert, dry material such as sand and then place it in an approved waste disposal container. If you get the fluid on your hands during disposal, immediately wash yourself with soap and water." https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/2014...ns-if-i-use-contaminated-diesel-exhaust-fluid
Short term effects will be the machine derating until it is near useless. These systems freak out if there is extra water from condensation. After it derates, depending on the machine it might take a tech with a laptop just get it on a trailer. Long term effects will be a new SCR system on your dime. You can buy totes of DEF for what a small scr system costs to replace. Lantrax, I had to laugh at the DEF disposal bits. Assuming it's not contaminated with petro products, it's just very fancy 16% N. At one point there were some people on an Ag board doing the math on using DEF as a fertilizer. They thought they were gonna get rich til somebody smarter than me pointed out it was 32% Ammonia and not 32% N.
As others have said, you are so screwed. At least one engine company will say replace the entire system if it has petro contamination. They claim the rubber and plastic used in the SCR system absorbs petroleum and cannot be cleaned with anything. But you are so screwed
You wanna talk about screwed.. I have a rental co. customer that filled the FUEL TANK w/ DEF.. TWICE..!!!!
Welcome to the Forums Vel. As it's already been said - Do not run the machine and throughly clean the DEF system. If you don't follow this advice it's going to hurt financially.:cool2
As long as it hasn't been run or the key cycled I personally would unhook the def tank and get a new one I have never been able to get all the oil out of plastic. And those tanks have small openings
Hmmmm, well oil should float on the top and def on the bottom, high water content right? Yep, I wouldn't run it just in case, shop vac the oil from the top of the tank, I'm hoping there is a tank drain valve but I'd drain it and then pour in a bunch of spic-n-span and agitate it with a hose or pressure washer, two wash cycles and a few rinse cycles, then refill.
That's what I'd do, take the tank off and fill it with hot soapy water and shake it a couple of times, then when you are sure it is clean rinse it with clean water a couple of times.
DEF is somewhere around 9 lbs/gal, so hydraulic oil will float. I bet it mixes as soon as it starts as the def starts sloshing around. Last thing that goes throw the tank before it gets refilled needs to be either deionized water or DEF.
used to use spic-n-span to clean out oil fouled cooling systems, worked pretty good overall! Also added it to the radiator dip tank to keep the residual ATF from oil cooler from causing a sludge in the tank.
First off I have no idea of how big a DEF tank is, but one idea is if it is small enough to fit in to an old time cement mixer would be to clean it out as good as you can at first. Then fill it about 75% with a good hot soapy solution and wrap it in an old blanket and put it in and let it tumble around for some time then rinse and repeat till it is nice and clean. I think I would use some strong industrial soap like Simple Green or Zep Soap. Then rinse real well.
I saw worse recently. A guy pumped 30 gallons of DEF in to the hydraulic tank of a Case Quad Track... Guess what that does to hydraulic pumps? Not good.
DEF in anything that isn't made of stainless or polyethylene is a bad deal. I'm gonna guess the tank on a quadtrac is 40-50 gallons.