Outdoor Power Equipment and Small Engines - Low Idling speed

I bought a Craftsman Eager 1 model# 917.388611, serial #050801M 006139 approx 3 years ago at a garage sale. It has run great until today. It started up fine, then after a few minutes of mowing, I noticed the rpms on the engine went down and attempted to come back up. Sounded like it wanted to quit. Please help. Thanks.

Sounds like you have a fuel restriction, you will need a can of spray carb cleaner, here we go. First try running it with the fuel cap loose/off if problem still exists continue if not get a new fuel cap, clamp off the fuel line and remove the carb bowl nut, this is the main jet and has some holes in it, usually 2 at the bottom and a tiny one midway up before the threads clean these holes(I usually use the wire from a twist tie) and blow them out with carb cleaner, set the mower down and remove the clamp from the fuel line to see it you have good flow to the carb, if there is no obvious gunk or varnish in the bowl you should be done. Put the bowl back on, be careful with the bowl gasket and fire it up. Post back and if this didn't solve the problem you might need to remove the carb and soak it in a bath type cleaner. Have a good one. Geo

Thanks for the tips. I ended up cleaning out the bowl and holes in the bolt with a wire from a twist tie like you suggested. I put everything back how it was found and now I can't even get it to start. I manually played with the choke and got it going for a short period of time then when I let go of the choke, the engine stopped. I'm not a big mechanic yet, but I did play around with a solid metal line that hooked into the choke and attached to a unit (which was also taken off) behind the air cleaner.

Thanks again for all your help. I appreciate it.

amos1

When you set it down and removed the fuel line clamp, did it have a good fuel flow(even though it is messy) through the inlet, if so it is going to be necessary to remove the carb and soak in a bath type cleaner and the blow through all holes, crack and crevases with brake parts cleaner(it doesn't leave residue like other cleaners), get it from walmart,advance or autozone, it's about $2.00-$3.00. Was there any obvious junk in the bowl when it was removed. The "Big Boys" will chime in here soon. Have a good one. Geo