JD LX279 blowing a lot of smoke on start up

[Smokeeater]

I have a John Deere LX279 with a 17HP Kawasaki FD501V-DS04 liquid cooled engine.

When the engine sits and you start it up a lot of whiteish blue smoke comes out for about 30 seconds and then it's ok.
- I had the carb apart to clean it out cause of hesitating and thats cleared up but the smoking isn't. I did notice the Fuel solenoid is in working condition, BUT it doesn't have power going to it, so it's not operational right now
- The oil level is fine and customer never added any.
- The coolant level is low in the overflow tank by about an inch

I guess what I'm wondering is the coolant what you think is coming out on start up or something related to the fuel solenoid? Something other than gas is in the combustion chamber

 

[Craftsman Garage]

Add coolant to the right amount, and drain and add new oil, does your John Deere have a oil filter? if so replace that as well. Use 10W-30, and oil capacity is 1.9 quarts. And that should fix your problem, if not it is a blown head gasket. And at that point just take it in to a repair shop to get it fixed.

 

[Craftsman Garage]

believe me I've had my share of a bad gasket, and 2 in five people have get a broken head bolt, diy projects are not the way to fix some things like that. have the pros do it.

 

[Smokeeater]

Add coolant to the right amount, and drain and add new oil, does your John Deere have a oil filter? if so replace that as well. Use 10W-30, and oil capacity is 1.9 quarts. And that should fix your problem, if not it is a blown head gasket. And at that point just take it in to a repair shop to get it fixed.

Oil and filter are a year old. Not many hours since

 

[Craftsman Garage]

do you know how many hours on it? did you buy it new yourself?

 

[Rivets]

White smoke is an indicator of water. In a glass jar drain about 2” of gas from the tank. Let it sit for 30 seconds and look for water at the bottom of the jar. Any water means you should drain the tank, let it dry, put in fresh fuel. Also, drain the float bowl.

 

[Craftsman Garage]

I had a craftsman and it started like that so you might have to rebuild the engine and or get a new head gasket. white also means burning oil

 

[Rivets]

White indicates water, blue indicates oil, and black indicates fuel.

 

[Rivets]

If you don’t find water in the fuel, you may have a head gasket that is leaking. You may not notice coolant being burned off while running, but it will enter the combustion chamber after shut down and burns off at startup. You’ll need to do a leak down test to verify the problem.

 

[Hammermechanicman]

Like rivets said. You need to do a leak down test. When you pressurize the cylinder you remove the coolant pressure cap and check for bubbles. If leakdown test shows high loss probably has a blow head gasket.