You might want to pull it more times. If it keeps spitting out gunk/oil, keep pulling. Remove air cleaner and the carb opening is obvious. IF the air cleaner has ANY oil contamination, replace. A restricted AC may allow the engine to run fine when NOT under load. Get into the tall grass where the governor opens the throttle plate wide and the engine NEEDS the air, is where the lack of power shows up.

OK, I see in the IPL that item # 238 (Briggs # 691843) is the cap you referred to. Thank you for outlining the part about "holds 80 psi". Now that you have confirmed what I thought you meant, I need to ask, is 80 psi, the pressure you are applying to the cylinder (I presume you have an adapter air fitting threaded into the spark plug hole) with an air compressor, or is the compressor SET AT A HIGHER psi........and 80psi, is all the cylinder will maintain? I hope you understand what I am asking but let me put it another way. While you have the source of compressed air connected to the cylinder, does the air compressor cycle on and off to rebuild air that is leaking off "somewhere"? If the air compressor DOES cycle on and off, but you don't have any air leaks in your compressor air hose or plumbing, then the air must be leaking out of the cylinder somewhere. An "air leakdown test" is not simply to connect air to the cylinder and see how much pressure the connected air compressor is capable of maintaining (on the gauge). An air leakdown test must really be done with a gauge that "measures the PERCENTAGE of leakdown, even a "good cylinder" has "some leakage". It is neccessary to determine if the "actual leakage" exceeds the "allowable volume (%) of leakage" An air leakdown test is also conducted to determine WHERE the air is leaking from (valves? piston or rings? head gasket?). So, your answers to the questions of just how you are achieving the "80 psi for 30 minutes" will allow us to get past that issue as you may well be getting a false indication of "health" from what you have been doing there with the air pressure. During an air leakdown test, you should be listening to for air escaping into the exhaust system, or the intake manifold, or into the crankcase. Of course, the crankshaft must be stopped at the correct position AND HELD there so it cannot turn when the air pressure is applied to the cylinder. To "listen" for escaping air, I use a 2 foot length of plastic tubing (5/16" or 3/8" diameter, at auto parts store or plumbing supply). Place one end of the tubing into the muffler or exhaust port (if muffler is removed) and hold the other end close to your best ear. Any air leaking past the exhaust valve will be heard through the tubing. To check intake valve, place one end of tubing into the carb throat (with throttle wide open) or intake port (if carb is removed). Air escaping past the intake valve will be heard through the tubing. To check for air escaping into the crankcase (because of piston, rings, or head gasket defects), take the oil level dipstick out and listen for escaping air coming from the dipstick tube, or you can hold a small "flap" of tissue paper over the open dipstick hole, if significant air is coming out of the dipstick hole, it will lift the tissue off the hole. Wipe off the dipstick hole before laying the tissue in place so it won't just "stick" to any oil. OH YEAH, please post here and ask Mr. Walt Conner to post his "cryptic" e-mail address so you can contact him for HIS instructions on adjusting the valves. Walt is one of the primary Briggs contributors on this forum and most times Walt's instructions are better than Brigg's. It would not be "proper" for me to "set you up" with his e-mail as Walt has his own way of handling that. However, if you search in this forum and find a post where Walt "furnished" his e-mail address to another member, I'm sure he would be OK with that. It's just polite and PC to "ask first". Here is a link that might be useful: 313777 IPL

As said above, check that rocker arm studs are tight in the head also, you are torquing the center locking screw after adjusting the rocker arm adjusting nut? 60 inch lbs. Walt Conner

After you changed the gap to the size of a business card, about ten thousands, did you check for spark? You never stated that you performed the spark test before replacing the coil.You MUST determine if you have spark to identify if it's an ignition or fuel problem. If you are getting spark it's possible the primer bulb is defective and not priming the cold engine. What you can do is remove the spark plug making sure it is dry and not wet with fuel, then tilt the mower backwards and pour a small amount of gas into the spark plug hole. The quickly replace the spark plug, attach the wire and try to start it. If it starts then you have a fuel delivery problem.