First off, bad things have happened each time you've washed it so that needs to stop for the time being. That you have to keep cranking the engine (and continually pumping fuel in) you most likely are flooding the engine causing gas to get past the rings. I would change the oil ASAP and put new spark plugs in. 115 hours on that liquid cooled engine is nothing. Hopefully you haven't ruined the rings and the cylinder walls.

Water and electrics do not mix. Sounds like you are shorting out the electrical system when you wash it. If you MUST do that then let it set in the sun a few hours with the hood opened before you try to crank it. I wash my GT225 about once or twice a year, but when I do I take a leaf blower and dry all the water off of everything, and then let it set a bit before I try to start it. No trouble at all as yet. White smoke sounds like water vapor, or steam.

Liquid cooled engines:
Hard starting
White smoke

Indicates coolant leaking into cylinder or intake system
Do you notice coolant getting low?
Is compression equal on both cylinders?
Does spark plugs look the same?

Good Luck in finding the problem (there is one) and washing the tractor is probably not the major problem, only a minor secondary issue.

Thanks for all the replys. I think the problem might have been that someone had put too much oil in as it was way past the full mark. So i drained it and refilled and it seems to be working great. But now another problem came up and that is we were mowing grass and for no reason the mower deck just shut off?? I checked all the connections and they seem okay. Any suggestions on this problem?? Thanks

Deck shuts off when mowing for no reason:
Rough ground and you bounce off the seat for an instant. Deck shuts off - push the deck on/off switch in(off), pull out and the deck starts running. Darn that was easy - took me a trip to the dealer 6 or 8 yrs ago to find this out, no charge fix, permenant fix is to eat more - I asked him to take me to lunch since it was about lunchtime and to my suprise he did.
Happens all the time with my GT275 - use it for mowing a rough lawn. The deck shutting off, not the free lunch.

Yea well thats not the problem this time!! I traced the one black wire (from where the pto plugs into the harness coming from the tractor)back to the circuit board and there is nothing there even at the circuit board and all the other ones have juice at that sames spot except that one. So not sure what the problem is??

"I think the problem might have been that someone had put too much oil in as it was way past the full mark."

Beware that the carb float needle may be leaking and contaminating the oil with gasoline.

Walt Conner

Replace the seat safety switch. They are cheap to buy and easy to replace: takes about a minute or two.

Yea well thats not the problem this time!! I traced the one black wire (from where the pto plugs into the harness coming from the tractor)back to the circuit board and there is nothing there even at the circuit board and all the other ones have juice at that sames spot except that one. So not sure what the problem is??

i have a johndeer 345 it will only run smooth on a half choke and it was smoking white smoke and it seemed to be flooding. so we put a new carborator on it and still doing the same thing. Checked all fuel lines cleaned the tank and it seems that the fuel pump is over pressuring the carborator. You can the the air breahther cover of the carborator and the carborator is half full of gas. could this be a bad fuel pump over pressuring the carborator?

I had the hard starting problem and finally figured it out. I thought it was electrical or carb but it wasn't. The problem finally became obvious when the fuel pump began leaking. The ethanol ruined the fuel pump diaphragm. Its an easy fix! Two bolts. First take off the hood. Take off the air filter. Find the fuel pump next to the carb. Remove the two bolts. Disconnect two fuel lines. Install new pump. About 70$ part. Then it started right up. 10 minutes.

Now i have the smoking engine issue. Looks like oil in the muffler? Leaking oil from valves pistons ??? Not sure yet.

Word to the wise. Beware the leaky fuel pump. It drips gas right into the hot muffler. The new pumps have a drain hose. I've heard of several fires. So if you have a 345 and never changed the fuel pump you may want to do this now so you don't burn down your house.