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hope yall can help. I have a 42 in scotts riding mower with a 17 hp b & s. this past saturday started blowing white smoke and making a rattling noise. Son said he put oil in it, but checked my oil can and it's empty. Mind you it was 3/4 full when i last used it. someone at the tractor supply store said put new plug in. did that, then he said could be a seal gone bad. any suggestion. Thks....

I would replace the breather element. Also drain the oil and filter it through some cheese cloth, if there is little brass looking flakes in there then the bearings went

breakemoff said:

hope yall can help. I have a 42 in scotts riding mower with a 17 hp b & s. this past saturday started blowing white smoke and making a rattling noise. Son said he put oil in it, but checked my oil can and it's empty. Mind you it was 3/4 full when i last used it. someone at the tractor supply store said put new plug in. did that, then he said could be a seal gone bad. any suggestion. Thks....

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If the engine was run with insufficient oil you could have picked up aluminium on the bigend journal (that could be the noise you hearing). The smoking could be related either due to wear in the bore or a broken ring.

I would suggest you do as dodgefate suggests and if there are any signs of aluminum or other metals in the oil don't run the engine until you have opened it to inspect it. If you continue to run the engine the conrod could seize and break causing more damage.

What was the oil level when you checked it after your son used it. This sounds like either a fuel problem or blown head gasket. If the float needle/seat failed, the crankcase may have filled with fuel causing a mixture of fuel/oil to enter the carb through the breather. If the head gasket failed, excess pressure in crankcase could do the same.