noises and synthetic oil

Upon start-up for at least 10 seconds, I have a dull growling noise somewhere in the transmission or clutch, possibly the hydrulic pump. I cant isolate it easily. It does go away. This is on a cold start-up , when warm does not occurr. This happened after I switched to a full synthetic 5-40W oil - much easier starting so far in cold temps, which is what I wanted.

At the same time I drained and changed the hydraulic oil at the bottom of the PTO area. Not much came out! yikes! and was a bad grey/black color. I reached in with my finger and tried to pry out gobs of goo (deposits and old oil?) It was pretty bad. I cleaned it out as best I could, without dismantling. Put fresh oil in up to inspection plug level.

Question2 There is a large plug on top (right under the PTO enagage lever) with a CO stamped on it, and a smaller one about 2 inches beside it with a K stamped on it. I figured the smaller K would be the PTO/hydraulic fill, and guessing the larger CO plug is for gear oil fill? Can anyone please help me on this? If it is the gear oil fill, where is the ispection level plug? How much to put in? 80 -90W? What do these plug stamps stand for....am I doing the right thing?

Any ideas with the noise?

Lastly, someone mentioned before about the clutch being an oil bath clutch can anyone verify this? What is maintenance involved? How do I know if my clutch is adjusted properly? I use it heavily to feather my snowblower in first (beacuse it is geared too fast in deep snow). I know this is not the best situation, but thats what I got. So what does a guy do? How does a guy know when hes got major trouble in the clutch and needs replacing? Is it just a pressure plate and disc to replace? Sometimes it stays engaged when you disengage the clutch - I posted a question on that and someone said it could be just condensation on the flywheel - but if it is covered in oil...???

A tall order I know...thanks for any help. john

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Where does a guy drain the clutch housing oil as well? When I look under on the transmission, all I see is one large drian plug towards the front - where is the clutch housing drain plug? Is it filled by the same fill plug on the back like the trans? Any ideas on the growling noise? How does a guy make sure the clutch is adjusted properly? I have never worked on such a creature before (oil clutch)- I guess the principal would be the same as a regular clutch. Caseman, thank you for the quanities - couldnt open your picture though.

thanks again guys,
john

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