blowing smoke!!!

[blazerdeer]

I started my Craftsman 23 H.P. Kohler pro V-Twin for the first time this year and after warm up I engaged the blades to cut and all of a sudden white smoke started bellowing out of the exhaust with oil to follow. Did the head gasket blow or is it the rings? Should I rebuild or go new? The mower is about 6 to 7 yrs. old. opeengines.com has the same engine on special for $899.95 total. What should I do?

[Phil G]

I started my Craftsman 23 H.P. Kohler pro V-Twin for the first time this year and after warm up I engaged the blades to cut and all of a sudden white smoke started bellowing out of the exhaust with oil to follow. Did the head gasket blow or is it the rings? Should I rebuild or go new? The mower is about 6 to 7 yrs. old. opeengines.com has the same engine on special for $899.95 total. What should I do?

Was it running fine last season?

If it was then any deterioration has happened over winter.

Sounds like maybe you've got fuel in with the oil.

What's the oil level like?

If it's high then you may well have had fuel leak from the carb to the sump.

Change and refill oil. Check needle seating in carb. Have you got a solenoid shut-off valve fitted on the carb bowel?

With most engines, if there's room, fit a fuel tap.


Good luck, Phil:)

[blazerdeer]

Oil level is and was good before starting it. Last year it ran perfect and it was running fine until I engaged the blades.

[topsites]

No, but you need to check the breather hose, a leaking breather hose can create a smoking
environment even thou in your case it is excessive but this still needs checking because I
learned even a lightly cracked one can make a Kohler smoke.

Now that big blast of white smoke is not entirely unusual for Kohlers that have been left sitting,
something about the automatic self-adjusting hydraulic valves seating, much like that dieseling
tick-tick-tick they like to do.

I would keep an eye on it thou, and if it keeps happening you might have an issue with that carburetor
seal having gone bad, allowing fuel to leak into the oil.
If this were the case, the simple solution is to use the fuel shut-off valve to kill the engine from here on out,
oh, and change the oil and filter anytime this fuel leaking is suspect.
Another way to tell if this is the problem, is if you have a fine nose is taking a whiff of the dipstick and see
if you can detect the scent of fuel in your oil, thou it's a light fuel smell even if the contamination is heavy,
as in, speaking for myself I am unable to tell the difference by scent although it does exist.

[blazerdeer]

I don't think you understand. Oil is dripping out of the exhaust onto the ground with white smoke bellowing out of exhaust continuously. The oil does not smell like fuel at all. Even I know it is the head gasket or rings but I'm leaning toward the gasket. There is no engine noise such as knocking or clattering.

[topsites]

Oh, that does sound a lot worse, but I like to check out all options before tearing into it.

I am assuming the oil level is correct and it's not overfilled?

[KensLawnCare]

im having the same problem as well

[4.3mudder]

White smoke is water. Blue is oil, black is fuel.

[4.3mudder]

Whoops hit the enter too early.

If there is white smoke it is going to be water in the fuel.

[blazerdeer]

It's an air cooled engine. Blue smoke?

[4.3mudder]

It's an air cooled engine. Blue smoke?

Blue smoke is oil, black is gas, white is water.

If ever the engine was run low on oil, and you add oil to it after it was low, it will smoke, the oil is getting passed the rings and is burning. Black smoke is from either a rich fuel mixture or a dirty air filter.