Export thread

I was on mower yesterday..normal opps for a sunday, 20 min into my hour mow job my JD LT155 belched out white smoke and chocked herself out. Let stand 10min, checked oil (looked ok) started her back up and nersed her back to barn with white smoke filling the yard.
Had her for 5 years, mows 1.5 ac a week. change oil twice a year. never had any problems.
Any ideas for a fix to this good ol girl??
Thanks for your time

Hi
White smoke is normally a sign of a fuel problem could be dirt in the carb. I would start from the fuel tank and clean everything, change the fuel filter and clean the carb thoroughly.
Before re-fueling check the fuel can make sure it is clean inside with no water or dirt in it.

My guess is that the engine is a single cylinder Briggs & stratton. If you pull the dip stick, you will most likely find the level is hi & smells like gas. My best advice is to put a new carburetor on it. An overhaul to the carb. may take care of it though.

Thanks to all for the info. Have yet to get to the JD mower fix (15hp B&S) have hay on ground and wether coming. Any advice on were I can order a new carb? Again...Thanks to all..

We buy any mower- White smoke is indication of burning oil, black smoke is a sign of fuel problem unless the oil is filled with gas which in that case it would be a fuel leaking into the oil problem

White smoke is not burning oil but if you want to go down that road good luck.:thumbdown:

you might want to take a look at this link from B & S regarding white smoke.

Engine emits white/blue smoke while running | Frequently Asked Questions | Customer Support | Briggs & Stratton

I have been seeing this problem a-lot in my dealership. I just reviewed my notes from this year. 67 customer complaints of "was mowing great when all of a sudden a puff of WHITE smoke and it shut down" all 67 had fuel in the oil and in the cylinder on top of the piston. new carburetor fixed every one of the problems. If Briggs says otherwise, it must be a miss-print.

Yes it will smoke white if there is gas in the oil as it waters down the oil , if both gas and oil are burning the oil will produce more smoke than the gas, that is what I am saying, if it is purely excess gas it will be black smoke as soon as you add gas to the oil then it will burn oil as it gets past the rings etc and make white smoke. Suprised you replaced all those carbs instead of cleaning them out which would take care of most of them, there will be a few it doesn't help but most it will.

I really cant be bothered to argue about this. I thought the whole point was to try and help those that ask the question.
All I can tell you is that I have been factory trained by Briggs, Honda, Kawasaki and spent eight years working for Husqvarna.
I joined the forum to help others I don稚 need to do it I can find other things to fill my time so I am going to close my account and leave it to the experts.
Tata.

webuyanymower.com said:

I really cant be bothered to argue about this. I thought the whole point was to try and help those that ask the question.
All I can tell you is that I have been factory trained by Briggs, Honda, Kawasaki and spent eight years working for Husqvarna.
I joined the forum to help others I don稚 need to do it I can find other things to fill my time so I am going to close my account and leave it to the experts.
Tata.

Click to expand...

It is unfortunate that you feel your answer is the only one worth considering... I do hope you remain with LMF but like a few others that have threatened to go away and not come back, I suspect you will also be back...
It is unfortunate if you leave because you MAY at some point help others ... BUT someone MAY eventually help You...
I havebeen around all type engines for Many decades, I am still impressed with the number of knowledgeable people willing to help others, although they don't need to do it & they also could find other things to fill their time...
Some of the solutions that others come up with are absolutely brilliant and well worth the "trouble" of reading the posts... If you think you are here only to contribute input, Your missing the greatest part of these Forums... There are many folks here that are dealing with various situations daily... Being aware of problems Should make anyone more able to deal with new problems... I Have posted a bit here, love most of the Forums and have gained Far MORE reading them than I could ever contribute back...

For the record... It's been my experience that too much fuel is Black smoke, (apply the choke, you will see it also)... oil produces white smoke, you can 'fog' an area using mineral oil fed into a small engine muffler... much like sky writing running a oil feed into a hot exhaust manifold...
I don't think Duffer72 posted the BRIGGS & STRATTON link to argue with YOU... but just to give Briggs position on 'white smoke' ... :smile:KennyV

Actually that same thing happened on my '85 MTD mastercut about a week ago( ran fine before that) - fired it up, started mowing and did the skeeter smoke repellent deal then quit. Checked the oil- seemed fine( no gas in it- level is fine), so fired it up again and i ran it back over to the shed.

After some investigation, i figured the carb could be at fault, went to clean it and noticed oil in it- so pulled the head and the bolts were ALL hand tight ( ive never had the head off before) - carbon build up all over in the combustion chamber, and noticed the head gasket had been leaking .

Also noticed turning the motor by hand it makes a metallic 'ting' once a revolution ( ill pull the belts and retainers off to see if that could be the issue, otherwise im thinking 'loose rod' - but i think im going to pull the motor off for a rebuild and swap another motor on it in the meantime ....

Kenny V- you are correct I posted that rather than get in an argument over it, I ma just trying to help those working on thier units with correct info so they don't spend time and money running in the wrong direction, If you read his posts we are saying the same thing but differently, yes acarb problem can cause white smoke if the oil is diluted with gas but, but hte end result is the oil is causing the white smoke, Not sure of his experience I my self have been working on this equipment for almost 40 yrs and have many years of that at dealer, distributer and mfg level, I have also been to service schools and was a briggs master service tech.

It does that to me once in a wile, usually oil and fuel mixed. But sometimes i'll be mowing in 90's to 100 degree weather and it'd start smoking out with. I just shut it off, put it in the shaded garage and read Gold Digest for about a half hour then I put some oil in the crankcase and then it runs like a beut after that. Possibly overheating thing but IDK.

webuyanymower.com said:

White smoke is not burning oil but if you want to go down that road good luck.:thumbdown:

Click to expand...

We are talking about a 1 cylinder 15hp Kohler gas engine. What else would make white smoke other then oil?

I thought it was oil that would produce white smoke. Reading the problem here, I might not rule out a blown head gasket if it is an overhead valve engine. I just fixed a Honda motor with this very same problem, and it was a head gasket. Just my two cents.

I have fixed that fuel in crankcase with a $5 fuel shut off on 20+ mowers in the past few years the pressure from the gravity feed tank overpowers the float and allows it to fill the carb, intake, cylinder, and seep past the rings. most wont even start cause the tank is empty and the crankcase is full.

(lets make a 4 mix thank you stihl lol runs off the crankcase just run a hose form the fuel tank to the crankcase with mixed oil) :laughing:

Gasoline in the oil makes the smoke . Fuel shut offs are very important now with the crap ethanol in gas -