greetings .. new member with question

Hi all. I have a 6yr old 2348 husqvarna tractor. (Briggs Intec) It started smoking pretty good end of last season. Did some online research and decided head gasket. Made the replacement, adjusted the valves (a couple of times and while it runs pretty well, after about 20 minutes, she smokes a little bit again. I noticed that in most of the videos I watched, the valves had caps on them, but mine did not. Is this normal? Any ideas of what I should check next for the smoking issue ? With these low hours, I cant see the rings being an issue . Maybe the valve guides??
Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thank you all

Briggs I've done had caps on them, were you aware they had caps when you opened the valve cover ???? If you bought it used then someone else lost them most likely........

welcome to the forum hope you get the answers you need.

Boudreaux In Eunice La. said:

Briggs I've done had caps on them, were you aware they had caps when you opened the valve cover ???? If you bought it used then someone else lost them most likely........

Click to expand...

No, not aware, just saw them in a repair video. I'll have to pull a valve cover and double check. I'll also check the guides while I'm in there.
Thanks for the reply !!

Welcome. As the Service Manual will tell you, not all OHV B&S engines had caps on the valves although I would expect a 6 years old to have them. That is not your problem. It would help if you posted WHAT B&S Intek you have, model number. I can send you a Service Manual IF you like, address below, put in proper format and remind me model number.

Walt Conner
wconner5 at frontier dot com

Ok...thanks, will do. All the numbers on the top of the valve cover .

Blue smoke or black smoke?

Black would indicate it's running rich (which yours probably isn't).

Blue smoke, it's burning oil. Either piston rings Or valve seals/ guides (if equipped).

Even thou it's a low hour engine, it just takes a couple minutes running LOW ON OIL (or lack of maintenance) to damage the rings.

When you had the head off, was it somewhat "oily", soft build up in the top end?

Was there a bunch of hardened carbon or soft build up again in the combustion chamber?

While a compression test will NOT give you the "health" of the oil rings (compression, vales, etc-yes), it will
give you an idea of the overall health of the engine.. IE, if the compression is on the low side, one cylinder much lower than the other, the compression rings (and likely worn oil rings), indicate a worn engine in need of rings...

**NOTE, after the initial compression check, re-checking with some 30 wt oil in the cylinder, IF THE RINGS ARE WORN, WILL raise the compression readings....