So I was feeling pretty snappy from having got my mom's push mower running. She had put a new spark plug in, I gapped it, and drained fuel, took of round thingy with a float in it and washed a screw with hole (in gas). She is mowing with it now! Great...

But her riding mower, snapper, with 9 hp engine is another story. So I do the spark plug. Good. I try to get into the fuel lines but can't. I undo the round thing with the screw on the bottom with the float thing inside (man do I feel like a linguistically challenged small engine repair-girl) but there is not hole in the screw. I basically I put it back together, spray some engine starter in the air filter and a couple of yanks it fires up. It runs for 2-3 minutes then dies. She messed around with it a lot a couple days ago and said it was sending out black smoke, HOT and lots of it, but she thinks this is because of the starter fluid. I'm wondering if the muffler is clogged. Am I barking up the wrong tree? It ran great for a few minutes, like I said, pretty strong, then died hard.

Please don't think I'm an idiot for all my typos. I had a lot of fuel on my hands today. Inhaling fumes can't be good for getting my Ph.D. Going out for fresh air now.
-Katie :rolleyes:

Black smoke is too much fuel, it isn't the starting fluid. Now, that bolt on the bottom of the fuel bowl, does it have another screw in that bolt? If so, that's the high speed screw... its got a tip on the screw that controls the fuel spray when its running a full speed. Too much fuel and it'll puff black smoke, and run rough... too little and it'll run lean (run rough and run hot, but not blow black smoke of course) that needle is 1.5 turns out from snug as a baseline if you have one.
NOW it sounds like you do have a fuel problem of course... make sure the gascap is venting... if the engine doesn't keep running with it off, that's OK. Take the gas line off at the carb (crimp it) let it go real quick into a can, and watch for a good stream. Put it back on. If its got a good stream, gas is getting to the carb all right. Now its off to the carb, get a can of carb cleaner (gumout's good) gas isn't good enough to clean the carb, its more then likely why it's the way it is (was fuel stabilizer used? If its stored with gas for over a month, use fuel stabilizer per the directions) stabils good.
Have the can of carb cleaner, take the carb off (shut the fuel off) and take the fuel bowl off, you'll of course see the float, and inlet needle (controls the flow of gas into the bowl) now, any other holes you see (there will also be one up that hole the nut that holds the bowl came out of) blow it out once with the straw in the can of carb cleaner's head. Wait a couple of seconds, and repeat, and repeat this for a few times. (remember, through any and all holes you see) and also spray the butterflys and linkage down to make sure they won't stick. Put it back together and reinstall and try it. Also, if you have a in-line fuel filter... replace this along with the fuel lines anyway if they appear cracked up, replace it with a oem briggs filter, they do flow better then others. If it doesn't have a in-line fuel filter, Install one, it'll keep trash out of the carb. Btw, the fuel lines will be held on with clips, these are easily removed with needle noses.