I have been getting my lawn done since i was traveling a lot, and when i finally got chance to mow grass, mower would not start. this is a 5 year old mower, and it was fully serviced in shop 1 year ago (serviceable gaskets replaced, filters, fully checked out) Estimate it was not used for 6 months. Gasoline was drained, and oil changed before it was left dormant. Mower would not start at all. Tried starter fluid and could get it to run on starter fluid only - only 4-5 seconds, never consuming actual gasoline. Cleaned spark plug and verified spark is good w multimeter. Removed carb and disassmebled, cleaned w carb cleaner, blew it out w compressed air, re-assembled, made sure needle valve correctly installed, and reinstalled carb on motor. replaced air filter, fuel line (was cracking) and checked that fuel cap is sealing properly. checked electrical contacts of deadman circuit and they were not corroded. cranking the motor by hand w carb removed you can hear suction from the cylinder through the fuel port, which I take as a good sign that there isnt anything clogged there. I have re-assembled the mower and am now able to get it to start on starter fluid and then run on gasoline for about 7-8 seconds. it seems to run fine and then abruptly get killed - almost like all gasoline in the carb is being consumed and not being replenished from the tank (yes the tank is full w new gas and the fuel line has been triple checked). any ideas what I could check next? description of engine: this type of B&S motor has no external throttle lever, but does have a metal arm which pivots on a axis at the back of the motor. this arm is linked to the carb via a stiff metal rod. the rod is attached to a black pastic arm on top of the carb, and it in turn opens and closes the carb's valve. Also attached to the carb is a spring mounted to what appears to be a choke lever just above the carb primer bulb on the front of the engine. a handle lever links by cable to the engine via two arms and a spring. this assembly is linked to the deadman switch. I would think if this is the governor it should be visibly linked to the pivoting metal arm described above, but I do not see any such linkage. I am unable to locate the engine serial number. the mower is a Toro Super Recycler model 20037 Serial 220010476. Any advice would be appreciated.

Hello everyone. Neighbors John Deere STX38 black deck serial number M00STXJ299848 sat outside all winter. I offered to get it going for him so here goes: I got it running but when I shifted the forward/reverse lever it moved fairly smoothly once or twice then became very stiff. I then remembered the freewheel lever under the axle was engaged so I dis-engaged the freewheel, started the motor again and tried to move the shifter. Again it would not move. I tried it with the brake pedal engaged, not engaged, engine on, engine off and it will just not move. I was able to really force the arm on top of the transaxle and get it to whine loudly and the wheels moved so I forced it back into neutral. The shift bracket thing broke (M118696)(my fault) so I stopped for the day. Shouldnt that arm on top the transmission all the way back to the shifter move smoothly by hand? I can't find anything physically blocking the movement. I did find an oil check / fill spot there next to the battery. I removed the cap and stuck in a chopstick. There is 1 inch of fluid at the lowest point I could poke. I used my turkey baster and pulled out as much fluid as I could (not very much) and it looks quite thin although I have no idea what fluid is supposed to be in there. It is thinner than motor oil and quite dark, almost black. If this fluid became contanimated from sitting out in the weather would that cause my problem? Anyone know where the drain plug is, proper check procedure, fill procedure and what to fill it with? Any ideas?