Hi, I have a Troy-Bilt Pony tiller with Briggs & Stratton engine, only a couple of years old. It occurred to me that with between vacation and holidays, I'd forgotten to prepare it for winter. So I drained the oil, added new oil (it was hard to tell how much I was adding, less than half a bottle I think, but I didn't want to add too much and the dipstick seemed to be ok), and then added a little gas stabilizer, started it up, and left it to run 5 minutes. After about that amount of time, it died on its own. I removed the spark plug, poured in a glug of oil, replaced the plug, and then attempted to pull the cord to crank the engine and distribute the oil, as the manual said. The cord will go out about 4-5 inches, but will not pull out any further. It was suggested to me to remove the spark plug and see if it would pull, but it made no difference. I'm worried that there may be a serious problem connected to the fact that it died on its own before. Thanks for any advice you can give me!

I have replaced the spark plug and that help a lot. Last night after about 2 hours of use the motor would sound like it was going to die and then run great then just about die then run great. I have fresh gas, new spark plug, water pressure is holding. I experimented by turning off the flow of water to the PW and after a couple of seconds it would start to really purr great.... As soon as I turned on the flow of water to the PW it would start to do its sputter and almost die routine. It also goes through a lot more gas when it does this. One thing I am thinking was that I was getting ice build up in the hose since it is so small and the temp was around 10 degrees F. What else could I look for or possible adjust.... Thanks, Ken