Oren wrote:
On Sat, 01 Jul 2006 10:09:58 -0400, donald girod
wrote:

I have a Briggs lawn mower, solid state ignition. It runs normally
(good power, etc) once it starts, and it starts eventually, BUI...

I have to pull many, many times, and after a while the engine starts to
fire weakly. It will fire weakly 10 or 15 times and die, each time
doing a little better. Finally, it fires weakly, doesn't die quite, and
slowly picks up speed. Then it takes off and runs. It will restart
readily when warm, but if left even 10 minutes, it reverts to the
painful starting. The spark is strong (obviously), and I can see gas
splash up in the carb throat when I take the air cleaner off and pull
the rope. When it does start, it does NOT throw black smoke, as it
would if the carb was seriously loaded up with gas, in fact, it throws
no smoke at all, and I would bet that in fact it has been starving for
gas. Maybe.

I have seen other Briggs engines do this, and I have never figured out
what the problem has been. I have done things like take apart the carb
and put in a carb kit (mainly, new diaphragm gasket or whatever that
thing is called), and sometimes I have "cured" the problem. But if
somebody recognizes this syndrome and can tell me what the most likely
problem is, I would surely appreciate it.

I would clean and re-gap the spark plug and clean the air filter, if
it has been awhile. Will is start easier with the air filter off?

Oren
No, the air filter is clean, and taking it off makes no difference. I
swapped plugs, no difference. But thanks for the suggestions.