My neighbor lady has a Craftsman with this motor. She said it was missing a spring and could I look at it. It just quit while she was mowing. Sure enough the spring on the choke had come loose so I figured a simple fix. To easy.. It will start on full choke and run at about a idle speed for a short time then die out. I cleaned the carb and blew it out. I pulled the fuel solenoid and put a short bolt in as recommended by someone on this board. I also replaced the plug all to no avail. Anyone have any suggestions. Also fuel flows freely from the tank to the carb. The carb appears to be full when I pulled the solenoid. :mad:

TIA for any help - trying to help a little neighbor lady out.:)

I'd try another carb cleaning (every and all holes blown out after a soak in carb cleaner) If the fuel bowl was full of fuel... its getting there, but of course the solenoid keeps it from reaching the jet, not the carb... but it at least starts and runs...
Any smoke at all? Whens the last time the air filter was replaced?

No smoke and new air filter. Is it accurate that the short bolt will take the place of the fuel solenoid?

I'm not sure on the bolt part.. usually the trick that is done on them, is to take and grind the needle down on the solenoid and reinstall it.

Found the problem. It was a broken push rod.

Lol, guess I should have asked if it was a ohv... I'm guessing the aluminum one? Not hard to replace... here's a page on adjusting the rockers.
http://faqs.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/faqs.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=3441&p_created=1101860144

Thanks for the help!:)