Oliver 550 Crankcase breather smoke

I had my Oliver 550 painted and the intake manifold worked on about 2 months and 4-5 operating hours ago. Today while using the tractor to mow fields the crankcase breather started blowing a lot of smoke (white to gray color) so I parked the tractor and checked the oil level (ok) and coolant level (ok). This is a gas 1965 550 with only 1500 hours. I did not notice any loss of power. The tractor was not overheating.
Is this a beginning of a new problem or common? What should I be checking next?
Thanks
Ollie
 
Not entirely sure what you mean by 'a lot'. To me, 'a lot' means excessive piston blow-by, or the head gasket failing from fire ring to push rod area. I don't think it should be connected with either painting or inlet manifold. A serious alteration of timing could be an outside contender. Another could be a worn cam lobe.

There is usually some indication by a change in power/operation. But a few things to check out.

RAB
 
Thanks for your comments. I had never noticed and smoke coming from the breather before. While mowing yesterday I noticed what I first though was steam from over heating but when I looked closer saw it was the breather tube. I have used this tractor for the last 5 years to mow fields with a finish mower but had never noticed the breather pipe before blowing any smoke so when I saw it yesterday I quickly put the tractor away and finished with a different tractor. Note, I am a weekend gardener and field mower so i am not usually on a tractor even though I grew up on a farm with 10 tractors - all fords.
Thanks
Ollie
 
(quoted from post at 17:21:26 07/04/15) Thanks for your comments. I had never noticed and smoke coming from the breather before. While mowing yesterday I noticed what I first though was steam from over heating but when I looked closer saw it was the breather tube. I have used this tractor for the last 5 years to mow fields with a finish mower but had never noticed the breather pipe before blowing any smoke so when I saw it yesterday I quickly put the tractor away and finished with a different tractor. Note, I am a weekend gardener and field mower so i am not usually on a tractor even though I grew up on a farm with 10 tractors - all fords.
Thanks Ollie
I once had a similar concern with white smoke getting out of the breather tube on my 550. It did occur when I was driving for over pretty much at wide open throttle for an hour returning from repair shop up and down hills. It did not happen again maybe because I usually use for shorter periods or at low RPM. I noticed the engine oil level was a little lower than usual after that extended driving period at high RPM. Maybe it burned a bit more oil at high RPM ? Oil lever hardly ever change usually. There is not any oil deposit on the spark plugs either. I'm concluding that, some oil may have sneaked into the breathing tube from seals or piston rings at high PRM. The suggestion of a compression test could indeed help pinpoint if piston rings and valves are in good shape and properly adjusted. Another thing to check would be ignition components. My brand new ignition condenser failed shortly after this white smoke showed up. I actually plan to install a Pertronix electronic ignition kit (1142) with a new flame thrower coil before winter arrives. This 6$ condenser failure made me spend already too much in troubleshooting. I bought a strobe light to make it work better than the available third party contact points and condensers that seem to fail prematurely.

Good luck. I love my 550 for maintaining my maple bush with a loader and a logging winch.
 
I ended up doing a compression test this weekend. Had 100 psi in 1&2 and 105 psi in 3&4. So looks ok. Going to hook th mower back up to
the track or today and see what happens.
Thanks
 

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