Outdoor Power Equipment and Small Engines - Craftsman mower conks out

A neighbor gave me his 10 year old Craftsman frontwheel - drive mower (Model # 917.376210). I mowed with it five or six times and it worked O.K. I didn't use it for a few months and used it once on weeds a few weeks ago. It worked fine then too. Now it conks out after a second or two. I tried running it with the filter off and it still conks out. I changed the sparkplug when I got it. Should I try changing the gas? How do I do that with this model? Put it on it's side? Any help will be grately appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Chances are that you have a problem in the carburetor. You probably will solve your problem by removing the carburetor bowl, cleaning it out, and cleaning out the hole(s) in the bolt that holds the bowl on. If that doesn't do it, let us know.

To Cheese, I got the carbureter off and apart. How do I go about cleaning the holes in it? Thanks.

Compressed air (high pressure). If the carburetor has signs of heavy varnish build-up (and it probably does) then you should soak it in a quality bath type cleaner (I like Napa #6401) and then blow it out with air. Spray cleaner will do the trick if there is only scaling on the carb and then blowing it off with air.

I got some carburetor spray cleaner and sprayed all the holes and then blew it out with my bicycle pump hose. I put it back on and now my mower works fine. Thanks for the advice!

Good job! Glad we could help!