2005 TXT Smokes Badly, Running Hot

[Snafujg]

A couple weeks ago my GF was driving our 2005 TXT up a hill and said it started smoking so bad she couldn't see. I tried it without issues. Then yesterday it happened to her again so my buddy and i jumped on the cart to see. We drove up the hill fine. We then drove around for about 15 minutes and went back to the hill, and sure enough, about half way up, the cart bogged down and blew white smoke out the exhaust to the point we couldn't see. I floored it to get it to move and it didn't go anywhere. Then I let off the accelorator, waited for a couple seconds, then gave it gas and it drove up the rest of the hill fine.

We were able to get it to happen again a minute later up that hill, and I saw that the white smoke was coming out of the muffler. I've checked the oil level and it's fine, not overfull or low. We pulled the yellow plug on the diff and I put my finger in there. I couldn't feel the diff fluid, so maybe that's low. It looks like the diff could be leaking as I see fluid on the case.

Any ideas what is causing the white smoke billowing out of the muffler? It seems to only happen after the cart is warmed up and going up a hill. We have noticed that the seat is getting real hot while driving it so the motor is running hot. I can also smell gas, but can't find a leak anywhere. The belt looks OK.

[StoveBolt]

Is there oil in the air filter box?

[shaffer88]

Sounds like oil in airintake some how

[Snafujg]

Didn't see any oil in the air filter box. We checked that too, forgot to mention. Air filter is dirty, but no oil.

[StoveBolt]

If you are overfull on oil sometimes it will suck oil up the crankcase vent hose into the air filter and if you have a lift kit you can't go by the full line on the dipstick. Lift kits angle the motor and oil away from the dipstick so it's not a true reading, going up a hill even more angle.... 1.5 quarts that's it.

[Snafujg]

Thanks StoveBolt. It is a factory lift kit. I will drain the oil and fill back up with just 1.5 qts and see if that helps. My neighbor's first thought was that it was too full, but when we checked the dip stick, it was fine.

The weird thing about this is that I just started having this problem a couple weeks ago. And I changed the oil last year. If it was too much oil, I'd think I would have seen this problem last year.

I should also mention that I do sometimes get a back-fire at low speeds. Like if I just try to drive slow. We did mess with the governor last year, but slowed it back down when my GF complained it didn't drive how she liked. Maybe I need to adjust that back down further? I will likely never be able to find the factory setting.....

[StoveBolt]

Yep that's what I would do and back firing is usually caused by you throttle plate not closing tight when you let up on the peddle.

Also when you drain the oil jack up the rear so it all drains, then after filling with 1.5 quarts mark a new full line on your dipstick, I use a file.

[Snafujg]

Just to update this. I drained all the oil that I could (didn't have a way to jack up the back end). Filled it back up with 1.5 qts. On the dipstick, the line is about a 1/8" below the Full line. Maybe a little more. We tested it out on the hill giving us the issues before and we couldn't get it to do it again. So I think over-filling the oil was the cause of this. Will monitor over the coming weekends when we are using the cart. Thanks guys for your suggestions. Hope that's all it was. I really don't want to tear into the motor!

[StoveBolt]