# BS 17HP Blowing White Smoke/Oil Leak



## Shawn Collier (Aug 21, 2018)

Hello again all,

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer weather!

Having some trouble with my LT1000 M#917.271660 w/BS 310707-0137-E1. Running fine for 17 years up until now. Only just replaced the Muffler with the stock Sears one! Ran good and quiet. Started blowing White smoke out of the muffler about 2 weeks later when it would be leaned to the left on a hill. Would blow white smoke when reved up as well. When mowing the engine would get loud. Looses oil as well and the oil on the stick is black as well as the plug tip is oily black. Ran fine till now, when was mowing yesterday and it got rough and a big cloud of white smoke filled the air! NO FD response! LOL. Checked it and oil is leaking from the crankcase gaskets on the left side. Tried the get the best pics I could.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks much and hope all is well!
Shawn


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## wjjones (May 28, 2010)

Valve cover, or head gasket ok?


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## wjjones (May 28, 2010)

Could also be be the oil pan/ bottom of the engine bolts loose.


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## Hoodoo Valley (Nov 14, 2006)

Is your engines breather open ( not plugged)?


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## Shawn Collier (Aug 21, 2018)

Thanks for response all! A quick tightening of the breather cover solved the leak/white smoke trouble. Head gasket was leaking little oil on left side and does show sign of wear. New Head/breather gaskets are in route. Will check the bottom bolts when replacing gaskets and will look at breather as well. Right now it's running kinda loud and blows blue smoke when idling. Still loses oil but not as much since breather tightening

Will keep you all informed. Should have an update mid week.

Stay tuned with much thanks 
Shawn


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## FredM (Nov 18, 2015)

keep a check on your oil level if you are going to use your machine, if the oils gets a little too low, the con rod journal will grab the crank and the engine will be curtains from a smashed rod.
you have done well if you have got 17 years from your engine, but it may be time for a short or long engine if you can get one, once you remove the head and inspect the bore, you will get an idea if rings will solve your smoke problem.


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## Shawn Collier (Aug 21, 2018)

Thanks fred,

Yep I will check that and check with my neighbor if he wants to do the job, or maybe time to look around on ebay or small engine warehouse where I got my tech 10 snow king to replace the OEM 8 on the snow thrower that went curtains cuz I forgot to change the oil one year and your comment was the result

The 17 made it through the lawn mowing, so I'm set for another month or si... so I have plenty of time to fix it

Will keep u all updated on progress, hoping that it's just a gasket situation, but more than likely something else. My luck lol! 

Enjoy the nice weather as it feels like 100 here in CT

Best with thanks
Shawn


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## Shawn Collier (Aug 21, 2018)

Hey all

Update

Pulled breather off and washed out in gas... filthy. The filter inside was all crunched up. Cleaned it all out nice and put everything back together. Cleaned up slot good, but did notice fresh oil coming out of the hole. See.pic. thinking that where all the oil was coming from

On to head. Pulled cover off and everything looks fine inside. Gunking down a bit and will put new gasket on. Will check all bolts and clean carb a bit.

Hope this is all that it is. Will update later on after a run round yard Will try to upload a YouTube video since the video file is too large to put on here

Wish me luck

Thanks much
Shawn


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## Douglas Lee (Apr 20, 2019)

Is it possible the crankcase is over filled with oil?


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## arcwelder (Sep 2, 2016)

I may be off, but it sounds like the fuel shut off is letting the carb overflow when it is off. Ths will run into the crankcase and thin the oil and cause all kind is weird stuff. Fill the gas tank and the oil, let it sit overnight or a few days. See if oil level raises/Gas level falls.
This can be fixed if the gas tank has a hose going to it, get a shutoff and put it inline.


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## gman51 (Mar 22, 2016)

You could have cracked or broken piston rings. That would explain the white smoke and also suddenly having gaskets leaking. The broken rings could be letting oil into the combustion chamber and compression into the block causing gaskets to leak.


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## TonyWH (Sep 14, 2017)

Shawn Collier said:


> Hello again all,
> 
> Hope everyone is enjoying the summer weather!
> 
> ...


Hello Shawn I just had the same problem with an LA 105 the head gasket was blown between the combustion chamber and oil port. This pressures the crank case and blows oil thru fuel pump and makes it smoke it was a cheep fix for a head gasket took about an hour to replace it . Good luck I hope this is helpful to you.


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## Shawn Collier (Aug 21, 2018)

Update

Did do the gaskets, and everything was running great for about 5 min, then the blue smoke came back and the engine started cutting a bit. Thought could be from gunking. Let sit overnight. Started up. Same trouble with blowing grayish blue smoke while revving uphill and engine cutting out a bit. So took carb off. Took apart. Clean no oil Then it was fun putting it back together lol. Put it together, start it up. Pop pop pop with blue smoke, shut off went on YouTube. Found I had a pin in wrong. Put it back together. Back on Start it up Rrrrrrr No gas. Take carb apart again, little pin dropped out where it was supposed to be. The guy on YouTube actually popped his back in

So for 30.00 ebay I bought a new nikki 696353 which is what was stamped on the 2002 stock nikki carb when I bought the machine.. I know from experience that a new carb sometimes solves everthing. Please take into account that this engine has prrrrd like my cat for 17 years and still has all 2002 stock parts in it. So for 42.00 it might be worth a shot and if it doesn't work, I wont cry lol

I am taking all your thoughts into consideration, but for the price will give it a shot. Can't find any leaks and oil is holding. Like you all say something is leaking/cracked and I don't know it cuz I can't see it!

Thanks much. Will keep u all updated ince new carb is on. Hopefully this solves the trouble

Best with thanks till later

Shawn

Below is the little piece that fell out if place in the carb


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

The 310707's run valve guide seals on the intake valves. I suspect when you put the new muffler on, it increased the exhaust back pressure and your brittle 17 year old valve seals may be leaking now. Smoking from a bad set of rings is constant, valve guide seals is usually intermittent. Takes less than hour to change the valve seals/run the valves. BS # 690968.... $7-$10 retail. $3-$5 wholesale. Price is each seal (2)


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## Shawn Collier (Aug 21, 2018)

Hey all,

Replaced the Castrol GTX 10w40 that I got from a tag sale, which might have not been the right oil or too old, and it seems to settled the smoke down quite a bit. Depending on the level of ground weither it will smoke or not. Still does lightly smoke greyish. When I had the oem muffler on which was cracked... It blew blue smoke, when we put on the new one, it started the white smoke! This whole issue seemed to have started when we changed the oil for the season using the tag sale oil. 

Now i have to adjust the carb. Which is running midway high on idle and rough and sputting on fast. Not much choke. Used a Nikki replacement 696353 If I leave it on idle it will come back down to normal and then grey smoke will come out and then it will go back to midway high.

Then we have the tranny issue..  Goes fine forward, but ever since last years last cut, it only goes backwards halfway very slowly. Lever is stuck halfway. Nothing is blocking it that I can see. But if I adjust it forward then the lever will come all the way back, then neutral is screwed up! Is there anyway to check or add Tranny fluid?

One good thing is that I was able to replace and get running good the Rally Carb, which seemed to get stuck in choke one day! At least 2/3 are working.... So far!

Thanks much and hope everyone is doing well, and had a great labor day!
shawn


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## Shawn Collier (Aug 21, 2018)

Hey again all,

Still working on this... My neighbor replaced the piston rings and the connecting rod, thinking that was the problem. So we got it back on the tractor and everything is right, but just spins and spins and spins and when you take it down to idle from choke, it backfires badly out of the carb! Even purple sparking once! Got the govenor adjusted correctly. Head valves and keepers look good!

Don't know what else to do? Any suggestions?

Thanks miuch and hope all is well with everyone!
shawn


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## 47ford (Oct 1, 2019)

Sounds like the engine is worn out time for a proper rebuild, or swap


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

*Leakdown Tester*
https://www.amazon.com/GOTOTOP-Comp...hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583932700636497&psc=1
*Mechanics Stethoscope *
https://www.harborfreight.com/mecha...3297&msclkid=8f746075a7fa15cb2bcb3d912e5a59b9

Air hissing out carb --- Intake valve
Air hissing out exhaust --- Exhaust valve
Air hissing into crankcase --- rings

Spray a water mist from a pump bottle around the head/cylinder seal while you've got the cylinder pressurized with the leak down tester. If you see bubbles, check for a bad head gasket seal, or warped cylinder head

With the engine running.... Spray a small shot of carb cleaner, or brake cleaner (using the little red straw) around the cylinder intake/carburetor gasket. If the engine speeds up, your sucking air through the gasket seal that is bypassing the carburetor


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## wjjones (May 28, 2010)

I bet head gasket but you never know until you know. Very good info Bob.


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