All right, here goes..... i bought a 1986 Toro Lawn tractor on ebay
for quite a steal. Briggs 11HPi brought it home and stuck my jump-
starter on it and got to work. at first it obviously would not fire
up. i tinkered a little and could get it to fire up off of starting
fluid. at that point i started checking the gas lines, which were
clogged. i cleared the lines and tinkered with the carb for a while
and i eventually got it to fire up off of gas, but could only get the
engine running with the throttle up high. but it ran!!!! i rode it
around my property for about 10 MIN but it would still only run with
the throttle up high. the engine sounded great with no knocking or
sputtering. i went inside and ate dinner and when i returned (about an
hour later) it wouldnt even fire off of starting fluid. NOTHING. i
figured that the motor was flooded and i knew the carb needed
cleaning, so i removed the carb, drained the oil, and took the plug
out to hopefully clear some gas out of the chamber. that night i
cleaned the carb. the next day i re-filled the engine with oil,
reinstalled the plug, and cranked the motor a few times w/o carb to
hopefully clear any remaining gas out of the chamber. i reinstalled
the carb, but did not hook the gas line up to it. i gave it a squirt
of starting fluid and NOTHING. i can hear that the motor has
compression. and the plug is not wet, so at this point i dont think it
is flooded. i checked and i get a strong spark (ouch) from the wire to
the engine, but i cant seem to get a spark between the contacts on the
end of the plug when the wire is attached to it when i ground the plug
to the motor. i know the plug is good, because i tried it in my
snowthrower and it worked great. i am pretty sure that it is something
simple, seeing as though i had it running, but i am out of ideas.
please help!!