I have a craftsman riding mower. I was mowing and all of a sudden heavy white smoke came out of exhaust. Why?
I have a craftsman riding mower. I was mowing and all of a sudden heavy white smoke came out of exhaust. I looked in the carb under the air filter and discovered a lot of oil. Can you tell me what happened and what can I do to fix it?
Comments
4 Responses to “I have a craftsman riding mower. I was mowing and all of a sudden heavy white smoke came out of exhaust. Why?”-
Lawn Mower Guides
Lawn Mowers on eBay
Lawn Mower Ratings
Loading ...
Custom Search
Check the level of the oil in the crankcase. It can not be over the full mark. Drain out any excess and change the air filter.
Well if it was a car or truck I'd say blown head gasket.
It could be a number of things. But, I think the key is the oil and white smoke.
When oil burns, it puts out a light blue smoke (almost white). So, you are somehow getting oil into the combustion chamber. Many types of small engines have what's called an oil bath air filter (the original VW Bug engines had this type of filter). This may explain the presence of oil under the air filter. And, if some of this oil somehow gets sucked down the carburetor, you'll get some blue smoke from the exhaust until the oil burns out of the chamber. But, this only lasts for a little while.
If you are getting a continuous discharge of white-blue smoke, you have a continuous supply of oil going into the combustion chamber. This could be a leaky valve stem, bad piston rings, a bad head gasket, or a cracked head or block. In this case, you'll need to have the engine rebuilt soon.
Could be bad rings, bearings, cracked block, stem seals gone bad, perhaps a valve is fried, even warped head or head gasket broken. Easy way to find out is to run a compression leak down test. If this shows nothing the next step is to open it up for inspection. Before doing any of this be absolutely certain your air filter is clean and dry, the oil bath filters are a thing of the past unfortunately. You do not say if there are any strange noises or sudden power loss that would lead one to think in terms of broken engine parts. Be absolutely certain engine oil is at proper level, too much and it will do exactly as you describe, puke it straight into the combustion chamber and out the stack as a white or light bluish/black smoke. Also, too much oil will build pressure in the oil sump which can cause you to purchase another engine [you blew it up].
Craftsman rider – you got a real good engine, they are for the most part either Kohler or Briggs and Stratton both are pretty much bullet proof [hard to hurt].