Well, the mower is anything but new, but it was given to me with a handle that was falling apart, a blade that was really, really dull, splayed front wheels... Basically, used hard, often, and put away wet. The old air filter was years old and probably didn't do a great job of filtering. The gas can is clean, and the gas is about a week old. If time permits, I'll take the bowl off again and see if any other sediment has gotten into it, as well as blow out the main jet with compressed air. If it makes it to winter, I'll treat it to a full carb removal and clean/rebuild. vince

I wouldn't say that it would be abnormal for excess fuel to seep out from around the choke. I suppose it is possible for the intake part of the carb to crack and leak- but usually they get broken all the way.A few thoughts on the no start- does it have good spark now? compression seem good overall? any popping or possibility you have a valve that isn't seating or closing? Did the person doing the point kit install have good knowledge of the job? I've seen otherwise talented techs not know how to do the job properly as they grew up in the cd ignition world.

Before we start guessing, you need to do the tests suggested by Walt. It is not unheard of for a magneto (coil) to become weak and not be able to fire off a spark when conditions inside the cylinder change. So, a check for presence of spark should be done when the engine dies. This kind of test is more meaningful if the genuine Briggs spark tester is used because that tool allows the spark plug to remain in the head and thus the effects of Combustion pressure and cylinder temperature can still influence the "sparkability" of the coil. Simply checking for spark by laying a plug out on the engine does not allow for those influences. But you still need to check for spark any way you can when it dies. Temperature changes and the effect of increased compression pressures can literally suppress a spark from ocurring in a warm engine. Applying some choke will have a direct effect on the compression pressures in an engine (make them lower) and that could be why the engine is "smothering down". Another thing that could cause the engine to die out is starving for fuel. If it is dying due to lack of fuel, you can determine that by spraying a short burst of spray carb cleaner into the carburetor throat as soon as the engine dies. If the engine tries to run strong for a second or 2 and dies again, there is a fuel delivery problem. If it is from too little fuel, pulling the choke will keep it running because the choke is reducing the volume of air that can mix with the insufficient fuel volume. The engine might not die with the choke pulled, but it will not make much power either. Another thing that could be killing this engine is an exhaust valve that is too tight (too little clearance). if this were the case, when the valve heated up, it would not seat completely and compression would be lost out the exhaust, resulting in the engine losing RPM and power. This is why you need to check compression when it dies.

E-bay purchases don't worry me. I got the Snapper for a decent price and was aware of it's age. In fact I've spent about 4 hours pouring over E-bay, Craigslist, the B&S site, and some other sites for cross-referencing. That the seller is offering me $150 back is exceedingly fair, IMO. In a way, I'm fortunate that it happened this soon so that he's inclined to give me a partial refund. I certainly wouldn't expect him to do that next April. The engine I'm replacing is model 28M707 type 1026 (electric start & recoil back-up). One of the replacements I'm looking at is model 31B707 type 0005 (electric and recoil but the muffler is missing) and the other is model 31C707 type 0026 (electric only but complete) and listed as a "universal replacement" All of them (including the one that died) are 1" D x 3 5/32" L shaft with 7/16"-20 keyslot. I would take a guess that the recoil start from the dead 28M707 won't fit either of the prospective replacements, but possibly I could purchase the recoil assembly that the 31B707 uses and attach it to the 31C707? BTW, the Briggs replacement manual says that the engine "type" (which is a 4 digit or 4-dash-2 digit number) refers to "...engines mechanical parts, color of paint, decals, governed speed, and Original Equipment Manufacturer". Which is all pleasantly vague....Is there a breakdown what each of the numbers stands for posted anywhere? And since I'm slightly too tired to look it up right now, how much would the muffler for the 31B707 cost and what's the part #?