Tecumseh with plastic bowl - if it is flooding, at the bottom of the bowl on the side is a screw. Remove that and inside is a plastic piece, this meters the flow of fuel and if missing can explain flooding. Also carb is extruded aluminum and there is a small hole drilled in it for the bowl to breath, that could be the other cause. Lastly dirt is holding the carb needle open- hold the carb bowl in your hand off the carb and let the gas flow in and see if the bowl overflows while outside the carb. If it only runs for a sec, upon removing the screw from the bowl the plastic piece inside - get a drill and drill it just a hair larger - so far this personaly worked for me 3 for 3 of these. Do this after trying cleaning it out the same piece with a paperclip. Sorry all if parts of my post are a repeat. ihwall50- black smoke, too much gas from dirty air filter, try banging the filter on the street curb knocking dirt loose and try again. if it improves, get a new filter.

Thanks for the response. It's definitely a Briggs engine. Or let me put it this way, there's a big 'ol Briggs and Stratton stamp on it. The model # is 31G77. I believe that's right. Good point. Getting a voltage reading is not a true indicator of whether or not the battery is good. It wasn't smoking, only when it conked out. It was laboring, laboring, laboring, then it conked out and threw out a puff of smoke. The reason why I'm GUESSING the engine is a little sieged is because when I turn the key, it appears I have good power going toward the cranking process (you can hear and feel that jolt of energy), yet the engine "stops" it. It's almost as though there's a heavy break on the engine. When I try and spin the engine from the top by hand, it won't budge. Then again, I have no idea if you normally can spin it by hand because I've never tried to do that! Sorry for being such a newbie. From the little research that I've seen taking the spark plug out and putting penetrating oil down it, waiting an hour then trying to manually move the pistons by hand as a *possible* solution. Again, this is assuming I'm right and the engine's seized.

If it has spark, is in time, the throttle spring hasn't popped off - testing with a shot of fuel or carb spray in the plug hole & it still won"t fire -likely you have an issue pertaining to compression. What seems a little unclear at this point is that the flywheel key is as it should be. In regards to compression, just a note on whether it seemed to pull differently than before should suffice. If you pull it and it feels as it it pulls much easier- likely a valve is being held open such as from a loose seat. If it feels about the same , my guess is it has blown out a chunk of head gasket. Either way, the cylinder head comes off. If you are wrong, you are out the price of a gasket.

yardman1081- RUN (don't walk) with that power washer to the nearest trash can and give it a quick toss. Worst thing you could EVER turn loose on a lawn tractor. Use compressed air or leaf blower instead. M/W, remove spark plug(s) and crank engine - Observe if liquid is expelled out spark plug hole(s). If so, continue cranking engine until no more liquid is seen coming out - replace plug(s). Immediately drain/replace crankcase oil and filter as most likely water has entered crankcase. Remove air cleaner and allow cleaner element to dry - if wet from water. Allow ALL engine components to dry completely also. Using RATTLECAN CARB CLEANER, spray several shots directly into carb throat while assistant is cranking engine in a normal fashion (1/2 throttle, no choke, PTO off, Cl/Brake pedal fully depressed). Engine should start/run. If not, post back with details and we will go from there. Note: your starter motor most likely hangs like a "pail" and will catch/hold water from that washer - don't know if it has a drain hole or not. Just hope it does...