John Deere L120 Leaking Oil when mowing HELP!!

[CountryGirlCityGirl]

I have an John Deere L120 that is leaking oil when its mowing not in ideal, the leak is onthe left side (if sitting on mower its on the left) It starts out fine but then starts to smoke white smoke. When cool oil level is fine, could it be a head gasket??? Heard that from another forum. HELP!

 

[RandyT]

Sounds like oil may be dripping onto the muffler when running. Most likely area to leak and do that is the valve cover gasket. Other possibly area could be the sump gasket leaking and then running across the frame and then on the muffler. could be head gasket, but is is rare for the head gasket to leak externally. Normally leaks between the cylinder wall and the push rod cavity in the block.