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What's causing huge amounts of water out the tail pipe on engine start up mixed with light gray smoke??

Crankcase or muffler is full of water.

where would the water come from?

When I think of "huge amounts of water", it would be from rain or pressure washing for example.
Then engine can form condensation from short runs where the engine doesnt get to operating temp. But its not making huge amounts of water.

I goofed,it's not water,it fuel.

Leaking carb inlet needle or from filling the fuel tank too full of fuel. It will push fuel through the evap system into the air filter system and flood the engine with fuel on some mowers

This must be an age related issue.The engine has 400 hours on it.This started in September.
To avoid this problem, I shut the fuel off at the tank switch valve.

Yes needle wear out and no longer fully seal. They partially break off. They will continue to wear to a point where the engine will start flooding during operation. A fuel shut off is buying time until repairs are done.