Ive got a problem. My mower ran hot and my wife shut it off asap. When i checked the radiatorit was low , So i filled it with water and she ran it for a while and it was hot again and i found fluid low again so i filled it and let it cool started the mower and it ran rough and blue smoke was coming from the muffler so i shut it off and checked the oil and it looked like gray mud.. It also had water on the dip stick so i drained the oil and water and the radiator and im going to put new oil in and change the oil filter and just see if it will run and if it starts i will shut it off right away. Does this mean i have a blown head gasket or cracked head ?? Thank You Mark

I changed the oil 4 times and got all the water out, and it seems to run ok. I just let it run long enough to get the oil warmed up and then shut it off because i dont have any water in the radiator. whats the next step ? Head Gasket ??

Put an air hose, set on less than 10 PSI, into the
radiator and see where it is blowing out. You could
do something similar through the spark plug hole,
but use higher pressure. Put the piston on TDC
first.

I will asap Thank you Mark

I pulled the heads and how do i tell if the gasket is blown ? They dont look to bad I did notice that one side the intake valve was very light in color like maybe it was hot .Thanks Mark

Sounds like the engine was overheated before probably from grass clippings that blocked air flow over the radiator. the overheating resulted in a warped head or cracked head. Either way it leaked oil into the water. What I don't understand is why you kept running the thing after you discovered low coolant and water in the oil? (Gray mud) After you pulled the head the pressure test to diagnose the exact problem described by lbpod was no good anymore. Did you just forget to do that?

I did the air test and couldnt find or hear anything. I didnt run the mower after i found the water in the oil . The head gaskets dont really look that bad . Should i put the heads on a flat surface to check if they are worped? What do you reccomend ? Thnks you for your time Mark

I guess I would look real close, probably pull the valves- look in the jackets to see what can be seen. You may need help from an engine shop on this one. If the gaskets didn't appear to fail, you'll need to be looking at the heads and the block.

The only way to permanently solve your problem is to take the heads to a machine shop and have them surfaced. put new gaskets on torque down to 16 foot pounds.