I was mowing and ran out of gas. I used about a pint of gas I had in a can that was about 6 months old to restart it and it ran fine for about 10 feet as I was driving it to the shed. Would die if I tried to move fuel lever out of low. Parked it and have done the following: I have changed the plug, gap is at 030, new gas, drained gas bowl on bottom of carb, replaced fuel filter. Plenty of fuel getting to plug, it appears to be fowling.

Its not getting plenty of fuel if it dies when you move the throttle beyond low.

What's it doing is pointing at a fuel starvation issue... probably due to a lean condition from varhish buildup on the jets and ir bleeds... mabe even crap restricting the fuel to the float bowl.

If the fuel mixture deviates very much from 13-1 to 14-1 its going to die from an excessively lean mixture... or choke from an excessively rich one.

THe only thing that's going to cause an excessively rich one is a restricted air inlet or someone buggering around with the mixture... but most new engines have a limited adjustment range... the more likely problem is a lean mixture due to fuel being blocked by varnish and gummed up carb... as evidenced by you parking it over the winter with old gas in it. I'm assuming you don't use a fuel stabilizer when its in storage.

I can't vouch for the tank being drained this past winter as I had loaned it to my father-in-law last year. I do know he had mowed once with it this spring and my wife used it after we got it back from him about two weeks ago. I had mowed for over an hour with it when I ran it out of gas last week which is when all this started. I drain all my equipment and run it till it stops running before I store it for the winter.
So if I understand your reply it is a fuel starvation issue, correct? If that is the issue why is my plug fowling? When I pull my plug after the mower shuts down it has raw gas on it.
Thanks

When the mixture leans out beyon a certain point... it misfires... and that can lead to fouling because its not getting complete burns.

What I would do is drain the tank and carb... clean the carb with a carb cleaner or throttle body cleaner, get a can of Seafoam, put the entire can in the tank after you fill it with fresh gas.

That should clean out anything that remains.

Gasoline today is crap... its not the same stuff of 5 or 10 years ago much less our youth if you are older. And it begins to break down in about a month.

Hi,
That particular family of Deere mowers (160 through 185) were famous for pulling all the trash off the bottom of the tank if and when they were run out of fuel. My guess is trash in the carb because of that fact. Means clean the carb/fuel system.
Peace,
Clarke