Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil Waterman
hitch an old hose type hair dryer up and just let it blow through the case for a couple of hours to really dry the insides out
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Best way to remove moisture from internals is to flush with methylated spirits, ie. alcohol. Water and alcohol are miscible (eg. beer, wine, spirits) so the metho carries away every molecule of moisture immediately, leaving a thin film of alcohol which quickly evaporates. Advantage of this method is speed, which is not only convenient, but also eliminates corrosion, which occurs rapidly on bare metal in the presence of water vapour, esp. if hot/warm (no big deal in a diff, but potentially important with very small components, esp. bearing surfaces). You could fill the diff with metho ($10-$15 for 5 litres at the supermarket) then drain and fill with oil immediately. Any remaining alcohol will soon evaporate through the breather.
Metho is quite useful stuff for eradicating moisture, eg. from brake systems after long disuse, or fuel systems that have accumulated water - usually through condensation inside non-airtight fuel tanks. Normally it sits on the bottom of the tank and eventually gets sucked into the carby (after filling up the fuel filter bowl if fitted), but a bottle of metho poured into the tank will mix the water with the fuel and allow it to pass through unnoticed. You can demonstrate this effect by putting some petrol and water in a glass, then adding some metho and stirring - the two separate layers of petrol and water disappear. If nothing else it's a neat party trick!