The mower was working fine, I just wanted to learn about the engine and try my hand at disassembling/reassembling. Now I'm trying to diagnose what might have gone wrong in the reassembly because it won't start. It will sputter and turn over on its own maybe 3 or 4 cycles, but then it dies.
The carb has all new gaskets, needle, and pin and has been cleaned. I'm pretty sure it is in time. I made sure to have the timing marks lined up when I reassembled. And just eyeballing it with the spark plug out and the valve cover off, everything appears to be in time and functioning properly. I did not have spark at first and had to order a new ignition coil. Now I know I have spark. I have some compression, but haven't measured it precisely so not sure if that's the issue. One thing I did not replace was piston rings.
Remove the air filter cover so you can see the choke(ventura), spray 2 quick sprays of gas (or starting fluid) into the ventura(choke) and then crank it immediately. It should run for 2 seconds. If it runs for 2 or 3 seconds its a carb or fuel line issue.
