The Issue:
I recently purchased a 9 kilowatt generator running on a 17hp Briggs and Stratton engine which ran pretty well when I first bought it except for a little white smoke.
I replaced the gasoline just to be safe as the owner had not run the generator for several years. The generator ran great after changing the gasoline. I don't remember seeing any white smoke either.
Then I replaced the oil and put cleaner in the carburetor (or what I thought was the carburetor). What I actually shot with carburetor cleaner was the fuel pump! After this, the generator would only turn on for at most 20 seconds then a ton of white smoke would shoot out and the generator would quickly die after that. Come to find out that a bunch of gas was spilling over into the oil section and I assume oil was also feeding back into the cylinder.
I then replaced the fuel pump, carburetor float and needle valve. I also replaced the gasoline-filled oil. Now the generator runs beautiful, except that now there is a steadily increasing amount of white smoke coming from the exhaust. It takes about 10 seconds for any white smoke to be visible and steadily more and more white smoke is visible until it looks like a fog machine by about 90 seconds. Once I turn off the engine, white smoke continues to steam from the exhaust for about another two minutes, steadily decreasing.
The Question:
There is no oil that I can see around the crankshaft or the gasket. The oil level is staying at the exact spot and is not too full. From what it smells like, I believe that oil is burning, but I do not have the experience to tell where it could be coming from. Anyone have any ideas of what could be causing the smoke?