1996 -John Deere F525 - Kawasaki 17 HP gas engine- Puts out periodic puffs of blue smoke ?

[fastrumme]

I just bought this mower last week for $600. It has 880 hrs on it. It starts up easy , idles great { even at the lowest idle setting} but about every 15 minutes it puts out a huge puff of blue smoke....but it does not do this when it is initially started.

Would this definitely be a symptom of bad valve seals or is there something else that would cause this issue ? I figure its not bad rings, cause that should make it smoke constantly ?

 

[5030]

880 is getting close to the projected useful life of the motor (1200 hours). May last longer or may not depending.

I think your occasional 'puff' is related to the blowby oil that collects in the carb air intake where the crankcase breather pipe feeds into the carb intake (Kawasaki's are noted for that) and it's just a fact of life with a used engine that probably is developing excessive blowby. I have one that also does the same thing. I ignore it. I guess you could drill a small hole in the bottom of the intake horn and let it run out on the engine...

 

[fastrumme]

880 is getting close to the projected useful life of the motor (1200 hours). May last longer or may not depending.

I think your occasional 'puff' is related to the blowby oil that collects in the carb air intake where the crankcase breather pipe feeds into the carb intake (Kawasaki's are noted for that) and it's just a fact of life with a used engine that probably is developing excessive blowby. I have one that also does the same thing. I ignore it. I guess you could drill a small hole in the bottom of the intake horn and let it run out on the engine...

Ty...I pulled the valve seals off..and they seemed tight on the valves, but there was some oil inside the valve housing...so that should indicate a valve seal issue ? Can you give me a photo of where the crankcase breather pipe goes into the carb intake and the location of where I could drill a hole ? If the new valve seals do not fix the issue, I will try your idea for sure. I am surprised that 1200 hrs is considered the average life for these kawasaki engines. I thought 1500-2000 hrs would be normal.

 

[fastrumme]

I got this reply on another forum.

 

[5030]

Can you give me a photo of where the crankcase breather pipe goes into the carb intake and the location of where I could drill a hole

No. I don't take apart my engines to take photos and it don't go into the carb intake anyway. It goes into the plenum in front of the carb and that is where the oil collects as well.

 

[fastrumme]

No. I don't take apart my engines to take photos and it don't go into the carb intake anyway. It goes into the plenum in front of the carb and that is where the oil collects as well.

Ty...I thought you had said it goes into the carb intake in your 1st post. That why I asked.

 

[5030]

Who is 'Ty' anyway???? Don't know any Ty.

The carb intake plenum is part of the carb body casting and the air cleaner mount to it.

 

[fastrumme]

Who is 'Ty' anyway???? Don't know any Ty.

The carb intake plenum is part of the carb body casting and the air cleaner mount to it.

Ty is a abbreviation for thank you. Surpirsed you did not know that. In other words, I try to be courteous to people who are willing to answer questions.

 

[5030]

Don't do shorthand stuff. I'm 72 and old school.

 

[fastrumme]

Don't do shorthand stuff. I'm 72 and old school.

Understood. Im just surprised that you have over 16,000 posts on this 1 forum and never knew that " Ty" was abbreviation for thank you. ...but at least im glad to know I was able to provide you with some information you were not aware of.