start & quit

gregjo1948 said:

I need to clarify the "start and quit". I failed to say that I spay gas or starting fluid into the carb and it will run until that fuel is burned, then quits. The bowl is full of gas.
Even if the float sticks and restricts gas from entering the bowl, shouldn't the engine run until the gas is used up from the bowl?

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Not if the passages in the carburetor are blocked. And that just about has to be the case if your engine won't use the gas that's in the bowl.

I need to find something that will dissolve anything in the carb passages. I've soaked it 2 days in Napa carb cleaner and run a torch tip cleaner wire in every passage but still have the same problem.
Is there something that I can soak it in to open all the passages?

The bowl may have fuel in it, but it is not at a level high enough to be drawn into the carb airhorn.

Pull the blower housing off ,remove the contact on the coil & try again.
Mower runs well = bad wiring
Mower runs the same could be a bad coil,

In cases like yours I use an in line red spark tester and whatch it closely.
If it flashes all the way till the engine stops then the electrics & coil is good.
If the flashes stop then the engine slows down the coil/electrics is the culprit.

If the electrics are OK the next thing is to pull the blower housing & coil off .
Then check the inlet manifold.
A lot of these come loose, crack & split.
Generally this will cause surging when it starts too happen
As it gets worse, the mixture is so weak after the initial rich start that the engine can not run
Final stage is engine will not start at all