Smoking 3204
 

My 2002 cub 3204 has a kohler 20hp motor. Hour meter shows 570 but thinking it may be 1570 not sure.

Smokes at initial start up. After I mow an acre and idle down it smokes really bad and continues to smoke at idle.

Any ideas and help would be much appreciated.

What color is the smoke? Are you saying it does not smoke at all at WOT, only at idle?

Does not smoke at WOT. It is def burning oil. White/Blue color.

Do both of your spark have a black color and oil on them or just one?

Both black
 

Both are black!!!! Suprising it runs so well they are really bad.

are you mowing grass with the snowblower on??? if so perhaps between the summer heat and debris in the cooling fins the head gaskets blew

No I just wanted to see what it looked like on.

I guess SOP in that situation is to pull the heads and check for ring wear and blown head gaskets. I'm not familiar with the Command engines but I remember reading somewhere once about a valve that can clog and cause oil to go into the cylinders through the carburetor or something like that. Maybe someone more experienced with these engines can chime in. But with that many hours on it you may want to pull the heads and remove some of the carbon deposits, check the valves and put in a fresh set of head gaskets anyway.

have you done any basic tests like compression or leak down?

no
 

No compression or leak down test. Was reading about the breather reed causing oil burn. Thought that just let air out of the crank case.

Yes it does but on most models it puts it into the air cleaner or intake system to be burned as a pollution reduction device.
It is possible that it is malfunctioning and putting excessive oil into the intake system
Are you having to add large quantities of oil to the crankcase?
Now let me say I'm not familiar with your model engine, so hopefully someone who has BTDT can help more.

New to me
 

I have not had the tractor long enough to know how much oil it is burning. Been dry here and haven't had to mow much. I just don't under stand how the reed would cause oil burn since.it let's air out of the case under normal conditions.

The vent tube from the crank case is directed into the carb intake, take the air cleaner off and you'll see a hose aimed at the throttle intake.

I guess that's an easy one to diagnose, take the air cleaner off, start the tractor, see if it's spitting oil out the tube into the carb.

compression
 

Left cyl is the low one

plugs
 

Dark one is the left cyl.

My guess is that it's head gasket time. Just my 2 cents but I'd pull the engine and replace both of them.

breather
 

After mowing today did a little trouble shooting. Left it idling and removed aircleaner. Took breather hose out of carb. Moved throttle from WOT to idle a few times still smokes the same.

as Sam said,pull the engine and replace both head gaskets. while its out i would clean any debris off the engine and replace both crank seals.a service manual for the machine/engine would be best to have on hand. make sure to replace the spark plugs after completing repairs

Overhaul manual
 

Anyone have an overhaul manual PDF or hard copy?

Are these motors know for crank seal issues? I don't think I'll have to remove the motor for just head gaskets.

Overhaul manual
 

Anyone have an overhaul manual PDF or hard copy?

Are these motors know for crank seal issues? I don't think I'll have to remove the motor for just head gaskets.

In order to do head gaskets you need to remove the intake manifold. In order to remove the intake manifold you need to remove the blower housing. This is almost impossible to do in the tractor. If you insist on doing it the hard way it's your call. Your basically talking about 4 extra bolts and a few electrical connections. The service manual can be downloaded from Kohler.