Briggs and stratton 17.5 H.P. smokes?

well dave im guessing its a four stroke briggs if so then this may be caused by a broken piston or ring or a damaged cylinder although other causes are likely check your carb make sure it is adjusted properly you say the smoke is white that is kinda hard to pin point where the problem could be cause of course if it was black then it is burning to rich it it was blue well then the rings and piston or cylinder bore would come into play more then likely all three and may even be makeing a nocking noise and would have to be over hauled but white smoke just check your carb run it for a while it could also be just old gas if you havent used a stabilizer just keep this all in mind

Peterbuilt Diesel tech
September 2006