My mower will run on either for a few seconds. There have been some prior posts with the same problem and I have read them.

1. Gas runs freely from the tub connected to the plastic bowl when disconnected.

2. Gas is in the bowl when I check it after trying to start it.

3. Gas leaks out when I tip from the carb side.

4. I pulled off the carb but there's not much there to clean. The main hole through which the short pipe in the bowl goes into is not plugged.

5. I gave up trying to figure out what was wrong so bought a new carb bowl but the engine does the same thing. It runs for a few seconds then dies.

6. I got the mower free from a guy up the street. It does not have the kill swith connected properly. The metal cable was too long and would not pull back the kill lever. I disconnected the cable and tied a rope from the lever to the run bar on the handle. That seems to be fine. It's won't start unless I pull up the run bar. The lever stays in position after I start the mower.

7. There is no high low speed lever to control the speed. I'm not sure if this mower had one originally.

8. There is a spring and a rod at the back of the engine connected to a lever which I think is the governor control.

9. The spring which is a long one is connected from the governor to a fixed arm up by the carb.

10. The long rod runs from the governor to the butterfly on the carb.

11. When stopped the rod holds the butterfly in the open position, full air.

12. I connected a string to the rod end that is near the butterfly so close it a little and started it to see if it would run. Nope.

13. I gave up and bought a bowl assembly put it on and got the same thing. It runs for a few seconds and quits.

14. I use either quite a bit so familiar with the length of time something will run on either. It seems to run only on either and not getting gas. Days ago it did run for longer periods. It seemed to be running on gas but not for very long. It would slow down, chug and die. There have been a number of times it ran longer than just the either but seldom. It mostly runs just on the either. Sorry to be confusing but I'm just remembering how it went.

15. The compression seems find and I don't suspect a failing spark after it starts. When it does run it runs up to speed then chugs steadly to a stop.

16. I'm guessing now. It's getting air. It's getting spark. It's sometimes getting gas for a short time or not getting any gas and stops when the either gets fired.

17. I can't look at the governor when it fires. It could be the governor is doing something to shut the engine down. Hum, possibly it's flooding out. I thought I checked that by swapping plugs but maybe I should have gone further now that I think of it. Maybe it flooded again and I missed it. But if that happened it probably would not have started on the repeated applications of either. I'll have to check this again.

Given the above I'm not sure what to do next. Gas seem to be to be avaliable up to the throat of the carb but it won't keep running. The butterfly is fully open at least on engine start. If anyone has a suggestion I would appreciate knowing what it is.

David

I don't see how that is possible since the gas flows freely from the line and the carb always has gas. In both carbs the bowl seems to move the needle freely so not stuck shut.

15. The compression seems to be good