Do you shut it off @ full throttle or lowered rpms?
And is this something new to your machine ?
What year.
Mst newer ones have a solenoid on the carb which is very expensive to replace.
So a lot of people cut the plunger off.
Without a properly functioning solenoid the engine will backfire through the exhaust once to fuel & air gets to the correct ratio to burn at atmospheric pressure
Yes, I have been shutting off at full throttle. I do not know if this is new to my machine, as I just recently got the mower. It had set up for a while. I've checked the spark plug and it was fine. I've cleaned the rust off the magnet on the flywheel and the coil. When I put the coil back on I used an old debit card to set my gap. Would that be too large of a gap? I usually just use a thin piece of cardboard.
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Thanks for the input. I guess the backfiring isn't anything critical and I can put up with it. I've noticed it sometimes will backfire when I start it also. The mower had set up a while and the carb and solenoid was all corroded badly. Perhaps the solenoid is sticking some.