Exhaust Smoke

[backporch]

I was doing an initial mow of my 3/4 acre property with the Craftsman DYT4000. About 1/2 way through I stopped moving and shortly after a big plume of white smoke came out of the exhaust. I shut off the motor and it backfired. ( I thought it self destructed, but later fired it up and finished the lawn with zero issues.)

One thing I had noticed is that the oil level was high on the stick. I put in what the manual suggested for amount of oil and I had zero in the motor prior to that... had the pan off and swapped the oil filter.

I have done a little research and have seen suggestions from head gasket replacement to engine breather. If anyone has some troubleshooting tips I would appreciate it. I plan on drawing out any oil over the fill mark and running it again next week.

I also don't know how to gauge whether or not I am using excessive fuel. I guess I used most of a tank of gas for the 3/4 acre, but didn't really take an efficient path.

 

[Scrubcadet10]

The oil doesn't smell like fuel does it?

 

[Fish]

High oil level means fuel flooding, you need to change your oil and fix your fuel problem....

 

[7394]

As previous posts already posted, smell the oil for gas. Do NOT run till:

Install gas in-line shut off petcock.

Drain out the gas diluted oil asap. Refill with some cheap oil run for 5 minutes & drain again..

Let us know how you make out.

 

[backporch]

I think the oil level was high from the start. I don't think that gas entered. I was thinking the high level of oil might be the cause of the smoke.

I drained a little bit of the oil to get it right at the full mark. I think I will watch it from there.

It is hard for me to tell the smell of the oil. The whole garage smells of gasoline.

I believe this motor has an electric fuel pump. Would fuel in that kind of setup be able to get from the tank to the motor when the engine is not running?