Dropped the front diff today to replace a bearing, and to my surprise the fluid came out a gray milky color. This has me a little concerned that water got into the diff....I'm not sure what else would cause this. The teeth on all the gears seem to be fine and I didn't find an abnormal amount of metal shavings on the drain plug.

The whole reason I dropped the diff was because of a loud humming noise that went away when turning left. Ruled out CV and hub bearing. Now I'm thinking that this fluid condition might be at least part of the source of the noise.

The fluid is less than 1 year old.

 

Replaced mine and it was the same color.

 

 

Water...

 

okay mine wasn't that milky....

 

Replaced my bearing....filling her up with Mobil 1 synthetic and I guess I'll see what happens down the road.

 

Yea that doesn't look good. Did you wash your engine a lot? Is the inner fender well skirts missing on the passenger side (the small lower section)? Has to be where the contamination came from. One or the other. Unless the breather tube is missing.

 

I wash my engine maybe 2-3 times per year. Breather tube is intact and in good shape. I work for a carwash company so I wash the truck a lot, but I'm not sure how that would get into the breather tube as it sprays from the bottom up.

 

Spraying from the bottom up is the easiest way for water to enter..IF your breather is in it's factory position. Also washing the engine, - once is all it takes in it's factory position.

Your a prime example, - that oil does not lie and it happens just like you said.

 

damn I should check my fluid now. I changed it coming up on two years ago.