I am new to this forum and this is my first post. I have a push mower that sat for about 6 years after being used very little. Of course it wouldn't start when I tried because it had no spark and the carb was gunked. So I went through all the fix-it list. Remove and lightly sand the flywheel, replace a slightly dented shear pin, clean and adjust the magneto, replace the plug, clean the air filter, take the carb apart and completely clean the jets, needle valve, float and hinge and carb body. (I did not see any kind of diaphram in the carb body.) I have spark now. Gas appears to be getting into the carb. It started on the first pull after I put it back together. Ran for about 30sec and cut off. Since then it has started 6 times in about 200 pulls and ran anywhere from 5 secs to about a minute. So I DON'T think anything is heating up. I tried the loose gas cap trick and gas in the spark plug hole to no avail. It is a pointless ignition and apparently has no carb adjustment. What gives? Can a magneto go bad and cause this and is there a test for that? Thanks in advance. Clay

did you replace the diaphrams? if not than they are more than likely bad

The problem sound like it's still in your carburetor. The bowl nut that holds the carburetor on has a jet in it, make sure it's clear. The nozzle that runs up into the venturi of the carburetor just above where the bowl nut screws in will also get clogged when carburetor has set up for a long time with fuel. Need to run a small wire up through it to make sure it's open all the way through, and spray some cleaner through the nozzle as well. There is an O-Ring seal around the intake manifold where the carburetor bolts up, make sure it's there and not broken or cracked, if so will suck air and not run right.

Briggs and Stratton 698444 Carburetor sell for less then $30.00 so you may not want to fool with it and just replace it.

I've also seen the intake tube break from loose bolts for where the carb bolts onto

all you have to do to check is take the blower housing off, when they break, they break, its pretty obvious

I'm glad you confirmed the lack of a diaphram. I had cleaned every bit of the carb. Now I noticed that there is a split in the primer bulb. Does that affect the start or run? Thanks again Clay

It can affect the starting as you will get little or no prime, once the engine is running though it won't matter (at least as to the running part). The primer should be replaced as the carburetor vents through it and more dirt can enter the float bowl since the opening may be a little larger.