Craftsman Riding Mower Starts fine but dies a few minutes later.

Craftsman Mower.
Briggs and Stratton 311707 0132-E1

Bought a used riding mower last year and it worked fine for that season. This year I had issues where I would start it up and it would die immediately when I lowered the deck or engaged the blades. I ended up replacing the Carb and this resolved the issue for a bit. Now it will start fine but dies after 5 minutes of running. I kind of sputters then dies. It will not start until it is cool again.

I have replaced the fuel lines and fuel filter.
I replaced the carb.
I replaced the ingition coil.
I have tried loosening the gas cap just a bit while running in case the plug is bad.

I'm not sure what to check next. Any help is appreciated.

 

Is the choke fully returning to the open position after is starts up?

 

What type carb? Walbro or Nikki?

 

The carb in the mower is a nikki carb.

 

No it is not. The plastic housing that connects the carb and air filter is hitting against the choke. It's preventing it from opening back up and vice versa. It ran without the air filter housing for a while but died again.

 

Drop the bowl off the carburetor and observe the flow of fuel. Is it a good steady stream or just a little trickle?

 

There is a steady stream coming out.

I can't really explain it but I was able to mow my whole yard. (1/2 acre) without it dying. I was able to start it up 5 minutes later also.

My only issue now is that the choke will not close with the air filter enclosure attached. When it is off I can close and open it freely. I guess worse case scenario i have to take it apart to get it started and then put everything back on when it is running.

 

You can always hand choke it by covering the air filter intake, but you shouldn't have to. Did the enclosure messing up the choke start with the new carb?

 

The choke plate snaps in place. It sounds like yours is either installed incorrectly or it is not snapped in all the way. It won't interfere with it if the plate is rotated into the correct position and snapped in all the way.

 

Yes it did. I have the old carb still and it lines up well and opens/shuts. The carb looks different than the factory part. I'm wondering if there is a new air filter cover too. Trying to track it down.

 

I'll have to check it out tomorrow Cheese. It seems strange that it hits the plate. It looks like it lines up correctly but when I engage the choke with nothing screwed down it pushes the plate.

Do you think the carb itself is not line up correctly?

 

It can only go one way as far as I know. I think the plate is bent or out of place a little.