white smoke is usually water (steam), black is unburned fuel (too rich carb setting), blue smoke is oil being burned.
Unless its a water cooled engine, I have no idea.

No, it is a smaller JD, air cooled. It sat all winter, inside, but at the dealer it is a good assumption it was outside once the service was completed. One wouldn't think sitting outside would do any harm. I do not know if he used Stabil (or similar), drained the tank, or did nothing. I'll have to ask him. I am guessing it is moisture in the lines/tank then.

Thanks

What is described as White Smoke often is a sign the head gasket is leaking.

Walt Conner

Keep in mind that there are two variants of white smoke.

One of them being steam - it being fairly easy to detect as it dissipates into the air rather quickly.

As opposed to the white/slightly blueish smoke which will sort of drift away with the wind.

A few of the engines I have will cough up a bit of white/blue smoke on start up. But does not last, I see no oil loss, and I detect no foul smelling fumes...

I would say keep your eyes on the situation - if your not burning any significant amounts of oil then your in good shape.

Remember - some oil is creeping past the valve guides and the rings is a normal thing - and this will be seen on the next startup - especially if the motor has sat a few days.

I can also say that on one of my machines - I was able to detect that it smoked more when I parked it facing downhill. I guess the bulk of the oil settled in a certain location.

When I had a problem with an 18hp air cooled Kawasaki engine where oil would get into the combustion chamber after shutdown, it would give out lots of blue-White smoke (mainly white in color) on the next startup. I have never seen so much smoke from a small engine before. It was caused by a piston design problem. The engine was replaced under warranty. The only point I am trying to make is that the smoke was more white than blue, and was caused by oil burning. Charles Ranheim

Same applies to blown head gasket.

Walt Conner

Yep, blue/white on an air cooled engine is oil, black is over fueling/rich.
Water is steam like and goes away quick, and if there is antifreeze in it, the smell can be sickly sweet.