Hi
Recently bought a 2001 Fourtrak fieldman TDS. Changed the oil the other day and discovered that the fabric sheet stuck to the sump guard was literally saturated with oil. Not a big issue, but then discovered a rather dodgy looking rubber seal that had been used to seal the sump plug.
Discovered the reason for all this when I tried to fit a new washer of the recommended type. Basically it would just not seal, and the oil kept leaking. I torqued it gently to what it recommends in the book, and then torqued it higher but still no seal. Tried a good old copper washer and had exactly same problem with that.
So, drained the (new) oil again and had a close look. It seems that there are 3 indentations in the face of the sump just where the washer is supposed to seal, but they effectively stop the seal from being oil-tight! The only thing they could be I think is spot welds holding the threaded section onto the back (i.e. inside the sump).
After some colourful language I came up with the solution of removing the sump and carefully re-facing the whole area around the plug opening with a file to make it flat so that it would seal. Took a while and removed quite a lot of material although the sump seems quite thick here anyway.
It worked and now it seals up a treat.
Just wondered if anybody else had experienced this as it is unlikely to be a one off. Anyway, if you do have this problem, now you know the answer. I can't believe the main dealerships hadn't sorted it under warranty during one of it's dealer services in the past. There has clearly been a lot of oil leaks in the past and people have resorted to using dodgy looking rubber washers that I doubt would have lasted very long.