lawnmower is overheating

I purchased a 94-99 used cub cadet lt2158 earlier in week. It has a Kohler command 18 motor in it. About 30 mins Into cutting my yard mower shuts off and was smoking pretty bad. All my grilles are clean and free of debris. I checked my spark plugs and gapped them to .040as the owners manual said. They were at .020. I noticed the oil level was a smidge high. I let some oil out to get it in between the low and full mark. And it overheated again. Air filter is clean and fuel filter is clean. I'm lost any one have any ideas.

Maybe a rodent nest under your engine sheet metal.

Is there a large amount of grass buildup somewhere around the deck, pulleys, or engine?

I am going to take the tins off the motor tonight to make sure there aren't any rodent nest. No theres no build up of grass on the deck or around the pulleys

Overheating needs to be measured. We can be influenced by our perceptions of smoke, and other things. There is a lot of chatter about proper operating temps on this forum. Try the search function.

motoman said:

Overheating needs to be measured. We can be influenced by our perceptions of smoke, and other things. There is a lot of chatter about proper operating temps on this forum. Try the search function.

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I can see where you are right. Just what would determine overheating and just how would that be measured unless you have a heat measuring device. Not like your car as to when you look at the temp gauge. Now I have a older mower that when they made the mower they enclosed too much and on warm days it just starts to run bad which tells me its running too warm.

Did you post this elsewhere ?
I am sure that I have already answered you.
However I will di it again just in case I am going bannanas.
I have several 2000 series Cubs in my repair run and all were "overheating".
Some had removed the side covers from the bonnet but it made no difference.
I found the real problem quite by accident when one of the fuel pumps failed.
There was not enough flow from the tank.
It ended up being a plug of debris in the outlet from th fuel tank that was not enough to stop the flow, but enough to slow it down enough to cause the engine to occasionally cut out.
When we removed the offending tank there was a mounding fin inside the outlet hole which was creating an anchour point for the debris to accumulate on, so I ran a drill then a file up there after cleaning out the tank.
Did the same to each & every one when they ame in for regular service.
All had a plug in there and none have had a problem with "overheating" since.
Having said that it can be genuine ovrheating and proper cleaning of the engine is difficult as you can not easily remove the engine cover due to the flywheel PTO shaft.
If you go blowing a lot of air down there please remember to pull the choke on hard or you will end up with a carb full of dust the blow it off before opening the choke.
Better still is a rag down the carb throat.
Be careful with the choke linkage as the plastic spring loaded connector will be quite brittle and the cap is not available except as part of the choke rebuild kit ( $ 60 )

I did post this in the cub cadet and Kohler motor page. If it is a fuel starvation problem wouldn't it happen quicker than it does. Just asking. New to this. There was smoke coming out of every orifice it could calve covers exhaust block everywhere. I am going to try the cleaning of tank. I did notice that when I was checking my spark plugs the right one the threads were wet and dirty appeared to be oil. The other side was dry and clean. And both spark plugs where a whitish color.

It is rather like you trying to breathe through a straw.
You can do it for a while but eventually you have to pull it out & have a gasp.
The reduced fuel supply can not quite keep up with the fuel useage.
The level in the fuel bowl drops slowly so the engine starts running lean but not lean enough to hunt then either gets too hot or too lean cuts out.
If you can rig up a gravity supply from another tank, old oil bottle etc and see if it mows longer.
You can try blowing back up the tank ( take the cap off first and pop a cloth over the outlet ) with some compressed air from the supply side of the fuel pump.
If the problem goes away the it is a debris plug and will return in a short while.

Bertsmobile something else I noticed was when I did pull out my plugs to check gap. I noticed my left plug was white and the threads were nice and clean. the right side plug was also white and the threads were dirty and a little moist. Appeared to be oil. Is this a problem or normal