Sad thing is, I don't have a 92 Cub Cadet, and the parts store is like....prolly, 5 mi away.

Run the engine at normal operating temperature for ten or fifteen minutes, shut it off, put on your gloves, and go for it. To get it back on if it cools, heat the end in boiling water for a minute or two then immediately stuff it back on.

lol
I think I'll wait.
BTW, how much smoke/oil burn does it take to tell if the PCV is shot??

A normal indication is the belly pan on the bottom of the manifold (looking down through the throttle bores) showing about what you'd expect of finely vaporized oil settling out of the intake stream, more of a fine and mostly baked-on coating than a puddle or streaks. If you have more liquid oil puddling or streaking, you've got either a bad PCV valve or a blown plenum gasket.

If you suspect a blown plenum gasket, do the test specified in the TSB. If the test passes, look to the PCV valve as the most likely culprit. If you suspect you have a stuck PCV valve, just swap it out without hesitation. There's no sense worrying over a part that's so cheap and easy to replace. I replace mine with every tune up, and if I had those high zoot expensivum spark plugs that will go 100,000 miles I'd just replace the PCV valve every two or three years -- three seems more reasonable, but it's easier to remember something like "Memorial Day in even numbered years" unless you've got something that happens every three years to mark time by.

Oil consumption and/or oil smoke in the exhaust aren't good indicators of a stuck PCV valve because there are just too many other possible causes. Those things are a darn good reason to go looking for their causes because a cheap enough fix left undone can get very costly later, but you can't really look at oil smoke in the exhaust and magically know the source without troubleshooting your way to evidence.

The reason I asked about the temp sensor is because it seems like I should have more power than I do and here's some pictures that will show you why I believe it might be bad or going bad.

This is how hot it ran when I got the truck and for a while after that.


This is how it it would run after changing the thermostat with a new 195º thermostat and putting in a new radiator.



And this is as hot as it will run after changing to a 180º thermostat, changing the water pump and installing the airgap. This is at 2am but the temp will go up about 1/32" in 95º weather when I'm idling around town.

that is not hot. that is operating temperature. do you have a 180* thermostat? or a stock 195*. That is 195*!!

That's way too cool. Optimal temperature is between 190 and 210 degrees. Anything less than 190 the PCM won't recognize the truck as being warmed up to operating temperature and the PCM will stay in closed loop.

Jr, not if you have a 180* t-stat and a tuner like I have

Het sherrif, put on your AC and watch it climb 10 degrees.

I've always heard that 160ish was the temp that made the PCM mad and made it stay in open loop.
I've also heard that if it was running below that magical temp that you would get a CEL saying "engine too cold for too long".

Is it possible to be running too cold and not get a CEL?

Also, I thought if you were in open loop that you would be getting something like 7 or 8 mpg. I get about 12.

I tested the 180º thermostat that is in there now in some boiling water before installing it. Right at about 180º-190º the thermostat started opening up.