What is the best (cheapest) way to get water out of my hydraulic fluid?? How does it get in there??
First, water usually gets in through the filler cap, especially when snow is laying on the tank and starts to melt underneath from the heating of the oil. Not knowing how your tank is vented or pressurized it's hard to tell. Either the cap is vented at a predetermined pressure or there is a seperate breather, either one can go bad and leak. Suction hoses can some times pull in moisture especially when they are cold at first start up. No easy way to get water out of the oil once it is emulsified. To clear the system follow the following steps. 1. Find the source or the problem will just come back. 2. Extend or retract all your cylinders fully paying attention to safety. 3. Drain the reservoir, change the filters. 4. Fill with new oil. 5. You will now have to purge all your cylinders. 6. Working with one circuit at a time, disconnect the line from the side of the cylinders on the circuit that would normally go back to tank, Plug the hose or line so tank pressure can't push oil out. Connect a hose to each cylinder and feed it into a pail or drain pan. Then operate the cylinders in the opposite direction to push the contaminated oil out and into the drain pan. Then connect the lines back up and go to the next circuit and repeat the process. If you don't do this you will just put contaminated oil back into the tank. During this process make sure that you add more oil to the tank to replace what is going into the drain pans. Work all the systems to warm up the oil, then change the filters again. This is the same process to follow if you have had a pump or other component failure that could have put metal in your system. If your machine is out in the weather and there is going to be snow cover the cap and breather with something.
This was discussed extensively in the tractor/loader/backhoe section a while ago. It applies to wheel loaders also. .
In short like oldseebee said, you will need to drain all oil and change filters, after you find where its coming from ofcoarse!