A couple days ago my mower seemed to be runniing a tad slow, and less power than normal at full throttle. I could reach in and move the throttle on the carb, and rev it up more to what I felt was a more normal RPM. There was a good buildup of stuff around the carb linkage and governor, so I figured a good cleaning was in order.

I removed the engine cover and cleaned everything with a toothbrush. Didn't take anything apart, just brushed the debri off. After putting it back together, the engine would run on the primer but no gas was going from the carb to the engine.

Has a good spark, and no blockage from tank to carb. I removed the float bowl, sprayed carb cleaner into the fuel inlet with the float hanging down. Also cleaned the brass float bowl screw, and the tiny hole in it's side. Still no luck.

Where would the next point of blockage be?
Also, I lost the washer for the bowl screw, and used an O-ring in it's place. Will this affect the operation any?

 

Get the right gasket for the bowl screw first. If you have problems after that, spray carb cleaner through the nozzle in the center of the carb and see if it is obstructed.

 

Took some time to figure it out but the linkage was messed up. When I cleaned around the carb with a toothbrush, I "dislocated" the spring link from the governor to a position where it couldn't fully open the throttle.

I should've used an air nozzle but don't have a compressor