Thanks for the update. Hopefully, the smoke will clear up.

I had the surging problem last summer and it went away after I took the carb apart and cleaned it as well as putting on a new fuel line and filter. I am not certain but I think that when the carb gets just a little speck in the wrong jet it cause the surging. These motors are so reliable that I haven't known anyone who has had governor issues unless it broke completely.:beerchug:

Thanks guys! :beerchug:

Just out of curiosity, which carb do you have on your M18? :bigthink: This is my first dealing with a Walbro carb and I'm not that impressed. When I opened it, there was only very, very little CIC (crap in carb) at the bottom but what got me is, aside from not having a high speed fuel needle, is the plastic float. It just overall feels like a cheaper carb. I'm not going to complain too much, it's working fine right now so I'll just sit back and see how it works over time, maybe a year from now you can color me impressed :biggrin2: :beerchug:

Unfortunately I have the Walbro carb. I found that I had really fine black particles in the float bowl and I believe it came from the fuel line deteriorating. There was not a big amount in the bottom of the bowl but it doesn't take much to change the A/F mixture in that sorry carb. What I think might have happened is that on one occasion it would run fine and then as the little particles built up in the carb it would lean out the mixture and make the engine surge. Most of us expect to see big pieces of crap in the bowl but if they were that big they would probably prevent the engine from starting at all. If you are going to clean and replace everything take out the gas tank and clean it too as well as the little screen in the bottom of the tank. Good luck.:beerchug:

Already planned on it :beerchug: It had a new fuel filter on it when I got it and shining a light in the tank, it doesn't look bad at all but I still want to do it. I've already replaced the fuel lines on top of cleaning out the carb so the big ones are done.

It's just bugging me why I'm getting little puffs of white smoke on quick rev's. It doesn't do it under load, it doesn't do it at full throttle or any other constant RPM. It didn't do it when I got it, maybe some adjustment I made on the carb last night is causing too lean/rich, or maybe I put a little too much oil in it and it's just burning off; the dipstick is a skosh above full (I usually prefer these engines a tiny bit over full rather than below). Who knows, I'm going to get a new air filter tonight and rent a compression tester to see what it tests at. Hopefully it knocks it off :biggrin2:

If you have a fixed jet Walbro, then something is wrong with it, (bowl over filling) you can't do any more than adjust the idle jet. Can't get it too rich. You asked me the other day what I think of them. Not a fan of a carb I can't adjust the fuel on. Sometimes I set them to run rich (like when I'm blowing snow and want the extra fuel to keep cylinder temps down). But, that said, as long as everything is up to snuff on them, they're ok. If it was mine, I'd look for a used adjustable one (Kohler or Walbro) to replace it. Just my :TwoCents:

On it, I posted an add in the wanted section for a KT17 or M18 Carter/Kohler carb. :biggrin2:

As far as something maybe wrong the Walbro I have; you said the bowl could be overfilling which may fit. When I had it apart last night, I pushed up and down (lightly) on the float to make sure it wasn't sticking and I suppose I could have pushed up on it too much and it could have messed with the fill level. Hmm, something to maybe look into :bigthink:

That's got a plastic float doesn't it? If so, you didn't hurt it. Now, I have seen several of those old floats that the ethanol made kinda soft, or even just age has made them either not "float" so good, or warped them. Not a fan of plastic floats either. The old brass floats last forever.