I have a 2 yr old Troy Bilt 675 with a Brigg-Stratton engine. I am not a heavy user by any means, maybe once or twice every six months or so.

I lit it up recently and it worked just fine, but about 10 or so minutes later it started chugging and shut down. I thought it had ran out of gas, so I added a little bit and now it would not start. About 20 minutes later I tried it again, started, worked fine for about 5 minutes and then died again. So far it's been the same deal, starts up, runs for a few minutes, dies, wait a while, stars again, dies again.....

Looking through the threads here, so far I've tried the following: checked oil and gas, both good; checked air filter, clear enough, but a little gas on the bottom; spark plug looks ok and there doesn't seem to be anything weird otherwise.

Any responses will be greatly appreciated. GO NAVY!

There could be a couple other things to check -
Is your gas cap venting properly ? If it isn't letting air into the tank you may not be getting fuel.
Have you checked to see if your cooling fins are all clean - could be getting too hot.
Did you say there is gas in the air cleaner ? Carb Jets and float bowl may need cleaning - You could try some good fuel system cleaner like gumout or seafoam in the gas before you take the carb apart

Just some suggestions.

I was covered up and could not get to it for 4-5 days so my next door neighbor let a 'friend' troubleshoot her mower, a craftsman 42", 1999 model. It would also run 15 min or so and quit. He kept it a week, brought it back, said it as fixed and charged her $22 for a new fuel pump. Are you kidding me? I did not tell her but these mowers do not have a fuel pump. I took off the gas cap and there was the fix.... a 1/16 new vent hole had been drilled into it........ and I also agree with the other post of it possibly overheating......

I'm old enough and grumpy enough so that I would have told her he is no "friend" if he charged her for a fuel pump AND if I knew him I would tell him too !

Originally Posted by wildbill

I was covered up and could not get to it for 4-5 days so my next door neighbor let a 'friend' troubleshoot her mower, a craftsman 42", 1999 model. It would also run 15 min or so and quit. He kept it a week, brought it back, said it as fixed and charged her $22 for a new fuel pump. Are you kidding me? I did not tell her but these mowers do not have a fuel pump. I took off the gas cap and there was the fix.... a 1/16 new vent hole had been drilled into it........ and I also agree with the other post of it possibly overheating......

I thought about the gas tank not getting ventilation and creating a vacuum, but how do you fix that, vent hole?

I'll look for cooling fins and check them out. Let you know what I find.

And I'm getting another spark plug right now just in case.

Originally Posted by BKBrown

There could be a couple other things to check -
Is your gas cap venting properly ? If it isn't letting air into the tank you may not be getting fuel.
Have you checked to see if your cooling fins are all clean - could be getting too hot.
Did you say there is gas in the air cleaner ? Carb Jets and float bowl may need cleaning - You could try some good fuel system cleaner like gumout or seafoam in the gas before you take the carb apart

Just some suggestions.

Well.. I changed the spark plug and in case it was the fuel tank not venting I covered it with plastic, secured it with a rubber band and poked a hole in it.

It still chugged a little, but didn't die. The next time use it I'll use the regular fuel cap and see how it goes. The old spark plug had black residue on it, so it may have been that.

Thanks all.