I have a lawn mower that is about 7 or 8 years old. This year it started giving me some problems starting. The first time I finally got it started, I had to "prime" it a few times after it started to keep it running, then it picked up on its own.

The next time I went to start it, it would not turn over. So, naturally when things stop working I take them apart. I cleaned out all the tubes and zip-tied them to the nozzles (not sure that did anything though). Then I cleaned and rebuilt the carb with a carb kit that I picked up. After reassembly, it turned over just fine, but would not stay started for more than three seconds. If I am quick, I can catch the primer and manually pump the gas to keep it running. However that makes mowing my lawn very difficult.

Any advice or assistance would be much appreciated!
Thanks!

It would appear from your description that there is still an issue with the fuel delivery through the carburetor. If you could post the model and spec number from your engine that would help with things to look for.

The tiny hole in the bowl nut is probably dirty, the nut(main jet) can have from 0 to 4 holes in it and the tiny one at the top is sometimes very hard to find, I use the wire from a twist tie to clean it, refer to the picture below as an example. Have a good one. Geo

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z120/geogrubb/tec_bowl_nut.jpg

Thanks for you quick responses. I will check out that nut. I did not see any holes in the nut I think you are talking about, but I was not looking for them. Failing that, I will get the model and such for the engine :)

That worked! There were two little holes in that nut, and they were full of gunk. Thanks for all your help :)

Success is a wonderful sound. Have a good one. Geo

Glad it worked... Tecumseh engines are quite infamous for carbeurator problems.