27 hp Kohler blowing white smoke

[captaingreen]

I have an exmark Triton 56" w/27 hp Kohler. The motor was replaced after 50 hours on the original, now with 520 hours on this less than three year old machine it seems to be using oil and sometimes it blows a cloud of white smoke when starting. Is it time to get rid of this machine?

[mowerknower]

For some reason Kohlers like to blow smoke when starting. Never quite have figured it out, I switched to kawis instead. If its using oil you may want to get a cylinder leakdown test. Possibly a blown head gasket or a bad breather. Not worth getting rid of the mower just because of an engine problem, kawi engine on that machine will only run you about 1500 as long as everthing else looks good.

[captaingreen]

This has been my first Kohler. After the original motor was replaced after only fifty hours I thought hmmm what a smoking pile of crap, so I'm just a little concerned the same thing could happen. I have Kawi's on everything else (all the wb's) and they have always been great. Maybe I'll just have it checked out for now.