I've just put the engine back together after replacing the oil pan gasket and got it running only to find that there is now a bit of white smoke emanating from around the carburetor, muffler and air cleaner area after the engine has stopped running. It appears to be running cleanly - the smoke appears only when stopped. I don't recall this being the case before I changed the oil pan gasket. I changed the oil pan gasket because the engine was using a fair bit of oil and you could see that there was a fair bit of oil around the base of the engine on the chassis.

I have done a small amount of reading and it is suggested that the problem could be :-
- Overfilled oil - the manual says 1.1 litre of oil and I put in 1 litre
- Blown head gasket
- no doubt experienced mechanics would have other alternatives as well!

My question is:-

Should I replace the head gasket now or drain a bit of oil or let it burn off through runnning for a while to see if the problem continues - If the head gasket was blown will running it this way damage the engine?

Also whilst starting the engine I flooded it and there appeared to be an amount of fuel "blowing" out around where the carburetor joins the engine block - while I'm at it should I replace this gasket as well?

thanks

pcottam