Jury is still out...valve color

Thanks for all the help.

Bruce

White, to tan, to a very lite beige color is absolutely normal. Traces of a reddish, to reddish brown color indicate oil comsumption.

A valve that is running too hot will have a huge V-shaped crack brunt completely thru the face. The color of the edges of this gapping crack will be dark blue to black.

Allan

Thanks for your advice. I have been watching this valve through the spark plug hole as I had to replace the valve due to it burning up. When I purchased the tractor it had a burnt exhaust valve in this head, so after changing it out, and running the engine for a few minutes, I notice that this head ran really hot, plug was whiter than the other plugs, and the new valve was white while the others were black. So that started me on a wild goose chase to determain if I fixed the result of some other problem, but still had not fixed the problem. I retimed the engine, and checked many times for false air...nothing. Upon retiming the engine, all of the plugs look more a like, all running much cleaner, and some of the other valves are starting to get some white on them. I have decided that the engine is going to run as it is and if it is too hot, I should find out after running it for a longer time...just hope I can catch it in time if it is....thanks for your advice and all the others who responded.

Bruce