Yea the gasket seal are notorious for leaking air, You can try double gasket tooThat model, if it is the carb with the primer bulb, is known for primer problems. The problem is that the air cleaner base need to make a tight seal, as that is the passage that sends a puff of air to the carb and put up a pulse/squirt of fuel into the carb throat. I always put a smear of gasket sealant on the gasket between the air cleaner and carb, but be careful to not plug up any passages with sealant. This usually works.
If it is fixed, you will see a gush of fuel pop up when you push the bulb.
To quote Scrub " What happens is people tighten the airfilter base too tight and it becomes warped, the primer passage doesn't seal good, so the air goes out the warped parts instead of following the passage into the carburetor.dude you are nto alone..i literally have this same problem with every briggs and stratton mower i ever repair and find..i currently have 5 at my fathers house and had 2 befroe this and everyone whetehr the carberator was new or used had the same problem. i replaced the carberator and filter on my mothers and its the same it will only start when spraying carb cleaner into the filter..these engines are complete sheit if you ask me. even if i use the carb that comes with the engnine..same problme once they start which is firs tpull wiht the cleaner they run great but once theyre idle for an hr its the same problem all over again..its minor but irritating as id like to have them perfect..and literally no-one wants to tell me whats wrong or they claim to have no idea why this is..clearly im not the only one with this issue its the designers ..no-one carews to answer why this is because they want to know something you dont. i get the feeling they know they just ownt tell you
I used a double gasket since I had the old one. I pushed the primer and could see gas squirting in. It starts now with just using the primer and not the starting fluid. Thanks much everyone!Yea the gasket seal are notorious for leaking air, You can try double gasket too