My 16 hp Briggs started smoking last fall at the end of leaf season. I thought perhaps I had used too light an oil so I changed oil this spring to start mowing season, but it still smokes like a steam locomotive and does consume oil. The smoke is worse going down hill and less going up hill. It has a vertical shaft with the head on the front of the tractor. When I changed the spark plug this spring, it didn't look that particularly oilly to me. It's probably 6 or 7 years old and is used 1.5 to 2 hrs/wk for 8 months of the year.

Is the smoke whiteish or blue? Have you checked your compression yet? Could be a blown head gasket or a bad psiton ring. Do the test and get back to us if you can.

The smoke is blueish. I have tested the compression now. I tested it three times. The first time the pressure peaked at approx. 155 psi; the following two time the pressure was 150 psi. I noticed when I did the compression test the engine is a 17 hp rather than 16 hp.

Normally I would stick with my initial thoughts about bad gasket or rings but you have pretty good pressure. Since you have changed your oil I doubt that it could be overfilled. I am sumped for the moment. Maybe this new post will attract the attention of Briggsguy.