LT1042 Blue Smoke at Startup

[ollie2009]

My neighbour is an older retired gentleman who bought a brand new LT1042 in 2006 or 2007. It runs great, and he loves it. Last fall it started to smoke (blue) at start up, but clears up as the tractor warms up. If it were a car, I would think valve seals. I do all his repairs for him on all his gas engines, so all he has to pay for is parts (money is tight, and being on a fixed income, he really appreciates the help). He says he sees very little if any oil consumption, but worries about the life of the machine.
So a couple of things here. Has anyone any experience with this? Anyone know where I can get a pdf service manual for it? Any suggestions in general?

Thanks

 

[irvingj]

You might wish to consult www.********************.com; doesn't sound too good....

I went to see what the LT1042 looks like and found quite a few unhappy folks in the reviews section...

 

[irvingj]

Oops... it was a compact tractor review site.

 

[rcbe]

My neighbour is an older retired gentleman who bought a brand new LT1042 in 2006 or 2007. It runs great, and he loves it. Last fall it started to smoke (blue) at start up, but clears up as the tractor warms up. If it were a car, I would think valve seals. I do all his repairs for him on all his gas engines, so all he has to pay for is parts (money is tight, and being on a fixed income, he really appreciates the help). He says he sees very little if any oil consumption, but worries about the life of the machine.
So a couple of things here. Has anyone any experience with this? Anyone know where I can get a pdf service manual for it? Any suggestions in general?

Thanks

either you or the owner has to get the engine model/type #'s off the LT1042 kohler engine. Go to Kohler's website -you will be able to d/l a serv manual - and an IPL for it also.

ckh for proper maint records and correct oil /filter used - also dble-chk oil level. Also ck to make sure engine shroud has been removed and fins well cleaned.

 

[JTKub]

9 out of 10x it's nothing more than being overfull of oil. This is an extremely common result of overfilling a vertical shaft OHV engine, even very slightly overfilled. On OHV engines of this layout, parking them nose down can result in oil seeping from the crankcase into the combustion chamber. I bet if he drops his oil level 4-6oz the smoke goes away on startup.

Joel

 

[deepNdirt]

9 out of 10x it's nothing more than being overfull of oil. This is an extremely common result of overfilling a vertical shaft OHV engine, even very slightly overfilled. On OHV engines of this layout, parking them nose down can result in oil seeping from the crankcase into the combustion chamber. I bet if he drops his oil level 4-6oz the smoke goes away on startup.

Joel

2nd this

 

[ollie2009]

Thanks for the feedback thus far guys. As for the overfill, that was the first thing I checked, and sure enough it was above the hash marks and even above the "F". I drained some out, and brought it back down to the top of the hash marks, but still blue smoke on start up. I'll let him run it a few tiimes at the lower oil level, but any suggestions if this isn't it. Are there valve seals on this engine that are servicable? Again, has anyone any idea where I could get a .pdf service manual off the net for this engine?

 

[rcbe]

Again, has anyone any idea where I could get a .pdf service manual off the net for this engine?

see my earlier reply: either you or the owner has to get the engine model/type #'s off the LT1042 kohler engine. Go to Kohler's website -you will be able to d/l a serv manual - and an IPL for it also.