My Craftsman Rotary Lawn Mower starts, releases a puff of black smoke, and then dies after 2 seconds. I can reprime and restart again, and then again it dies. The oil is full, the gas tank is full, and I last used the mower with no problems about 3 weeks ago. The lawn mower is a 6.75 Horsepower, Power-Propelled, 21" Rear Discharge; Briggs & Stratton 4-cycle engine; Model 917.376562. Any suggestions?

Tom, June 2009

I had the same problem recently....If the smoke is black (like mine was) it is probably over fueling...Turned out the choke valve was stuck closed. I took off the air cleaner and pushed the valve open with my finger. It felt a little binding so I sprayed some carb cleaner on it and worked it back and forth. Works great now and was fixed in less than 5 minutes. Hope this helps...

Mike O., July 2009