# Craftsman LT4000 fouling spark plugs within 30 minutes of use!



## trianlockhart (Oct 26, 2010)

Hello everyone! Newcomer here. I was hoping this might be the right place to come for some help. 

I bought a Craftsman LT4000 (Kohler ohv 14 hp motor) last year used from Craigslist. It worked like a champ the entire mowing season. This year has been a different story though. I noticed one day that it didn't want to start, so I took a look at the plug and it was pretty bad, ended up changing it out with a new one. Ok, well the new plug worked great for about 4 mowing sessions, then I noticed it fouled out and needed to be replaced already. Great. I change it yet again, and now the tractor will run for about 30 minutes, and it cakes the entire end of the plug in black. This happens with a brand new plug!

Anyone have any idea what could be causing this? Possible solution? Thank you all so much in advance. I will check this thread frequently. I appreciate it.


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## TeamCheap (Dec 22, 2009)

Does it smoke when its running and if so what color is the smoke?

Is it maintained ? (clean air filter and clean oil)

How is the engines compression ?

Black smoke would be a rich running condition and blue smoke will be oil burning.


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## trianlockhart (Oct 26, 2010)

TeamCheap said:


> Does it smoke when its running and if so what color is the smoke?
> 
> Is it maintained ? (clean air filter and clean oil)
> 
> ...



Sometimes when it's running and it starts to die it will smoke kinda dark greyish color smoke. I don't know much about small engine repair so I can't comment on the compression. I can say that when it has a brand new spark plug it runs like a champ for about 20 minutes and then the plug gets caked and the engine starts to sputter out and smoke.

I have not cleaned the air filter, but the oil in it is very clean looking. It was changed out not very long ago.

Thank you so much for any more input.


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## Rattosh51 (Sep 10, 2008)

Make sure there are no air intake restrictions, run some gas additive that you can add to the gas tank, and see if it'll clear up. Sounds like you're getting too much fuel getting dumped into the cylinder. You may have some dirt or water messing up the carb. Try to not use ethanol blended gas. If that doesn't help anything, a carb cleaning may be in order...


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## dangeroustoys56 (Jul 26, 2010)

Sounds like its running too rich - id clean the carb ( float might be sticking) and re adjust it ( someone couldve cracked the needle valve open a tad too much) - keep an eye on the oil level- if its going lower, then its using oil ( pulling an OHV head is a serious pain to check if the rings are bad)- if youre getting too much oil, its overflowing the carb with gas and its going right in the oil.

You might also want to invest in a new air filter - that could also be choking out the airflow and making it run richer.


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