2003 GX345 Plastic cam?

[Heinlein0311]

Hey, first post here. I purchased a 2003 JD gx345 recently from a John Deere certified mechanic. It's been smoking pretty badly and I took it to him, he said he thought it was a clogged breather so after cleaning that and replacing the reed valves it continues to smoke. Now he's thinking the rings are bad. Is that an expensive fix? Does this fix sound legit? My more important question is the mechanic doesn't know if the plastic cam has ever been replaced with the steel one and if it hasnt than he says I should look into getting that replaced as well. This lawnmower has the kawasaki 20hp liquid cooled engine (fd611v). I thought those engines had the steel cams. Am I right? It's got almost 1200 hours on it so I figured if it was plastic that it would have already broken.

 

[beenthere]

:welcome: to the forum.

Likely someone here will be able to give you some help and assurance.

Doesn't sound like the "certified" mechanic is very interested.

A compression test should give a ring report for you.