JD 140 smoking badly

[cad58y]

I am restoring a JD 140 H3 which has not run since 2000. After points, plug, carb rebuild, oil change and cleaning the fuel tank I started it today. It ran fine for about 60 sec and then started smoking profusely. Do you think this is stuck or broken rings and what should I do now. Engine sounds great except for the exhaust smoke. Thanks, Bob Smits

 

[Kish318420]

Do you a compression test, then a leak down test. Low compression means means rings and or cylinder wear. If leakdown fails means valves, valve seats, valve seals, valve guides, or a cam wear problem.

 

[cad58y]

Thanks Kish. What should the compression be on the old cast iron Kohler one cylinder? The smoking surprised me because it was running perfectly when last used in 2000

 

[Kish318420]

Normal compression is from 110-120 PSI, the engine may have a compression relief system, I have a SM (227 pages) for the 30,000+ serial number range. PM your email address. I hope your email can handle large files. 20 meg plus.

 

[GyW]

Black smoke or blue?

 

[DrBill]

I would vote for stuck oil ring. If it was really only 60 seconds before it started smoking, it would take that long for enough oil to get to the ring location and also heat up enough to start blowing by. I had a mower that I loaned my Father in law and it spent the most of 10 years sitting in his barn. After his passing, I took it home and patched it up to put back into service. It did the same thing you described. I figured he had worn it out, but noticed it ran really good other than smoke. I decided to let in run a tank of gas at half throttle.

I checked on it a half hour later and the smoke had greatly reduced. Another half hour and it was all but gone. I don't think it would hurt for you to try the same thing at this point. Just keep an eye on the oil level and don't let it get too low.