Is this a vertical shaft mower, or a horizontal snow blower?
What's the HP? What's the numbers on the end of the motor cover?

At the moment, what comes to mind is timing thrown off, and
leaking compression.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
..

"Murph" wrote in message
oups.com...
I'm back, still at my wit's end with this thing. Brought my
father in
in law (one time mechanic) and neighbor (rebuilds Model As)
into this
and now they're at their wit's end also.

We've done the following with no success:
Removed, disassembled and cleaned the carburetor.
Replaced the carburetor with an identical model from an old
engine I
have laying around.
Changed the spark plug.
Changed the oil.
Changed the gas.
Checked plug for spark (it's there).
Tried starting with starter fluid. We can get it to start
(with a lot
of fluid) but it doesn't run for more than a second or two.
Tried starting it with throttle in every imaginable position.
Used every imaginable curse word to motivate this bastage.

Best I can get is a few good backfires and maybe second or two
of
running (only with starter fluid).

Any more suggestions? Anything at all?? This is a really
weird and
frustrating scenario for me. Thank God there's been almost no
snow
this winter.
Please Help!