The first thing you should do is see if the engine oil is overfull and/or smells strongly of gasoline.
Mike

Also, what color is the smoke. Black is running too rich, blue is burning oil, etc., etc..

No smell of gasoline in the oil. Smoke is blue in color. Neighbor walked over an he said he had the same mower, and that they have trouble with rings. I may have got a lemon and at the least being stuck with a rebuild.

I'd check for a blown head gasket.
You can remove a valve cover, start the engine and look for a "mist" blowing out at the gasket toward the push rods.
Have a rag handy.

Thanks Bill, I will try and check for a blown head gasket tomorrow, Monday at the latest. They are calling for a lot of rain tomorrow. If anyone has a copy of the repair manual, it would be greatly appreciated.

Suggest you follow Bill's suggestion. I can send you a Service Manual if you like, address below, put in proper format and remind me, model number and what you want.

Walt Conner
wconner5 at frontier dot com

Here, see if this link works.

Here is a link that might be useful: manual

Thanks guys, looking more and more like rings. Trying to find out if there is a complete rebuild kit or if you have to pull the parts together yourself. Or what is the minimum I can get away with for parts. Cylinder gaskets, rings and head gasket?

What leads you to believe that there is a ring problem? Are there signs of dirt ingestion past the air filter?

Rings??? Who said Rings????

Seems odd to me too.

His neighbor said rings.

Were there 5 of them, only 4 lit up?

Sorry guys, been out of town for a bit. I think the neighbor felt it may be rings because of his past experience with this engine. I'm still out of town and haven't gotten to work on it.