hilmav, Bless you. WE have a relatively new lawnmower and were having a hell of a time keeping it going. We had it serviced several months ago and it worked okay for a couple of months...Today it started and stopped... I was frustrated as I had no idea how to clean the carburetor etc as most people recommended (I also didn't have the tools to do it.) I tried the prime while motor running and eventually it began to stay going and running smoothly. I have a postage sized lawn and is newly mown and a solution to what has been an ongoing issue. THANK YOU

To preface: I have an old Toro with a Tecumseh engine which has never really given me any grief. I pulled it out for the first time this spring and brushed out the air filter (pbly shd have replaced it) and checked the oil. The latter seemed a little low and I had a quart with a bit left in it. So I dumped it in, checking a few times. At the end it looked barely high. I mowed for a while (15 min) with success and it suddenly died. I could restart the motor but it would die after ~10 seconds. Googling suggested the carburetor, but I did some more research (especially on youtube) and came across a video (it was like the sixth one I watched) that laid the blame for this failure mode on too much oil. So I checked my oil again and it was way too high. I probably hadn't let it settle down the tube when I was checking originally. I dumped all the old oil out and refilled with new. Fresh oil is kinda hard to see on the dipstick so take your time. Then I finished mowing my yard.

Yes it is the Pulsa jet with the gas tank on top of the carb. I checked the gas cap vent and it was clear. I was thinking it may be the pickup tube and/ or the jet with the mesh covering over it. I notice there was gas coming from the carb. I checked the connection to the manifold, gasket / diaphragm, etc. and didn't see anything. On the carb I see the gas was coming from behind a small round black ball. I believe the dip to is connected to it under the carb.

S'pose I autta throw in my 2 cents.... Virtually every single house (with very few exceptions) in my neighborhood has bermudagrass. 99% of all the homeowners with bermudagrass mow around 1-1/2" to 2" up to maybe 3" with rotary mowers, and most the lawns look okay. Some mow way too infrequently & their lawns really look like $#!+. Very few mow very low/short (one guy in particular with a Lawn Boy about a block away) and no matter how hard he tries he leaves the dreaded rotary swirl marks. If you really want the thick dense short fairway looking bermudagrass there's only one way to do it..... Buy a reel mower. Keep your Murray....you say you got it running again? Mine's 8 years old now, I use it from time to time to mow the neighbor's lawn (he's up in years & health not so good) and I also use it to do clean up in spring/fall. You could use yours in that area of creek frontage & stuff. Now that it's running again, take care of it. Change the oil each year. Keep the blade sharp. Always use Sta-Bil in every can of gas you buy for your lawn equuipment. You can use your rotary Murray to mow while you decide what reel to buy. (Or while you look for a reel to buy.) You've obviously read many of the posts in this forum so I won't belabor the opinions of which brand is best. (But the Tru-Cut is best) 8^) Is it foolish (or necessary) to really want both? Nope. Keep ur current rotary. If you really feel you need to upgrade the rotary, go ahead, but if you take care of the one you have, it'll last longer than you think. Splurge for the reel so you can have the golf course look you want (Buy a used one if you don't wanna spring for new, I did & only spent around half.) I get many comments of praise from friends/relatives who come by to visit, but what really makes it worth it is when folks I don't even know just stop to tell me how good it looks. It seems to make it all worth while. You can't make it look like this with a rotary: My 2 cents.... Good day, Dan