# can diesel harm hydraulic system?



## buckwheat_la

so we had a little mishap at the pump last night, my guy opened the back of the skidsteer (to get access to the diesel cap, and instead of opening the diesel cap, opened the hydraulic fluid cap, and the resevoir was filled with diesel!!! (damn case for putting both caps in similar areas/locations, anyways, we loaded the skid onto the trailer, and promptly got it back to the shop, drained all the resevoir, so the question here is, if diesel is a oil base, and our skidsteer uses 10w30 as hydraulic fluid, when we put the new fluid in, do we need to do a flush? or well the little bit of diesel that is still in the system just mix in with the 10w30? i am leaning towards draining it again and replacing the fluid a second time, but would love to hear thoughts on this


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## cretebaby

I think you are on the right track. You may want to run it a bit between changes.


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## buckwheat_la

yeah, i was thinking that too, so we put the new fluid in and i sent it out to plow a couple places, then we well do another change, (i could have thought of better ways to spend a couple hundred bucks)


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## buckwheat_la

just talked to the dealer, he says the diesel could soften all the rubber seals, in pumps, hoses, valves, rams, etc, praying the flush is going to work


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## JohnnyRoyale

Same thing happened to me last year-wasnt thinking and filled the hydraulic tank of my Cat 257 with deisel. Got it flushed and machine ran all summer and into this winter without any problems...yet.


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## sefh

The only harm it does is weaken the seals. If you didn't run it with fuel in it and drained it you should be fine.


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## buckwheat_la

it did run with the diesel, loading into the trailer, 5min, then unloading 5min, we are going to do another flush and replace filters here this afternoon, see what happens


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## sidthss

It always amazes me as to how people can do this. Are you in that big of a hurry or are you that blind to not see where you are putting the fuel in your machine, not trying to pick a fight, but honestly.
I work part time for a rental company and 2-3 times a year someone will fill up the hyd tank with gas on our wood chipper, the best part is that the hyd tank has a lock and is bolted shut, people take the bolt off and all to do this. Just amazes me and then they wonder why they are being charged for 15 gallons worth of hyd oil, where if they would have paid attention to where the gas tank is when we showed them initially it would not have been and issue. rant over!


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## cretebaby

sidthss;946883 said:


> It always amazes me as to how people can do this. Are you in that big of a hurry or are you that blind to not see where you are putting the fuel in your machine, not trying to pick a fight, but honestly.
> I work part time for a rental company and 2-3 times a year someone will fill up the hyd tank with gas on our wood chipper, the best part is that the hyd tank has a lock and is bolted shut, people take the bolt off and all to do this. Just amazes me and then they wonder why they are being charged for 15 gallons worth of hyd oil, where if they would have paid attention to where the gas tank is when we showed them initially it would not have been and issue. rant over!


Sh!t happens.


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## 2COR517

sidthss;946883 said:


> It always amazes me as to how people can do this. Are you in that big of a hurry or are you that blind to not see where you are putting the fuel in your machine, not trying to pick a fight, but honestly.
> I work part time for a rental company and 2-3 times a year someone will fill up the hyd tank with gas on our wood chipper, the best part is that the hyd tank has a lock and is bolted shut, people take the bolt off and all to do this. Just amazes me and then they wonder why they are being charged for 15 gallons worth of hyd oil, where if they would have paid attention to where the gas tank is when we showed them initially it would not have been and issue. rant over!


Must be nice to never make a mistake.


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## sidthss

Ya, I know, you can always talk big until you do it yourself. Never said I was perfect!!! I guess its just another reason not to buy a case ss.


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## buckwheat_la

for the record, it was a stupid move, (and i stood there and watched it happen) a combination of, working late, being tired, inexperience, and not paying attention. I am going to weld half chain links right by the hydraulic cap, and run a zip tie through it so that it doesn't happen again. hoping this doesn't become a $1000+ mistake, :crying: could be a hard lesson learned


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## NICHOLS LANDSCA

JohnnyRoyale;946592 said:


> Same thing happened to me last year-wasnt thinking and filled the hydraulic tank of my Cat 257 with deisel. Got it flushed and machine ran all summer and into this winter without any problems...yet.


How in the world did you do that with the arm in the way?


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## JohnnyRoyale

NICHOLS LANDSCA;947489 said:


> How in the world did you do that with the arm in the way?


Arm isnt in the way.

I was exausted from being up 36 hours, it was freezing, and had a million things to do that morning, machine was covered in a couple of inches of snow too.

Just wasn't thinking straight. Sh!t happens.


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## sefh

things like that do happen. No one was killed so let's move on. I would do something so it doesn't happen again.... label it paint it bright orange...


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