Mower flooded, now needs starter fluid every time?

[SirLawnboy]

Well I'm just lost now... so I got the missing spring and low and behold the mower starts on the first pull! Just like last year and its giving flashbacks of the hero it once was.
Unfortunately , after maybe a minute or two it starts doing that oscillating up and down sound and then stalls. The weird part is it won't start up at that point even if I use starter fluid and take off that spring.

So, I change the oil after this happens again and sure enough the same thing. It starts without the fluid but quickly dies and will not start back up. This thing has had so much "improvement" that I just don't know what it could be. I even shot in seafoam to clean out the spark plug, carb... added mystery oil prior. I don't think the gas is bad since it was ethanol free, but I could try draining that?

 

[ILENGINE]

I wouldn't be afraid to throw another new spark plug in and see what happens. Your no start on starting fluid hints to a lose of spark. So either spark plug or ignition module is doing a heat soak failure type scenario.

 

[Tiger Small Engine]

Well I'm just lost now... so I got the missing spring and low and behold the mower starts on the first pull! Just like last year and its giving flashbacks of the hero it once was.
Unfortunately , after maybe a minute or two it starts doing that oscillating up and down sound and then stalls. The weird part is it won't start up at that point even if I use starter fluid and take off that spring.

So, I change the oil after this happens again and sure enough the same thing. It starts without the fluid but quickly dies and will not start back up. This thing has had so much "improvement" that I just don't know what it could be. I even shot in seafoam to clean out the spark plug, carb... added mystery oil prior. I don't think the gas is bad since it was ethanol free, but I could try draining that?

Hunting and surging indicates lean condition. Either you have an air leak around carburetor intake, or carburetor is still dirty (most likely). Definitely drain old fuel and blow out tank, may have a little water in fuel, old fuel, debris.

 

[SirLawnboy]

Alright... major discovery...

It also explains a prior symptom- the mower could stall with gas still in the tank. I went to drain the fuel, the carb basically looked brand new still and the bowl didn't even have debris in it. But... the fuel line literally was jammed up. I was ready to catch the remaining fuel in a can and it just didnt.... I take off the line to inspect and I end up FORCING a rod of rubberish sludge. It seemed to be at the very least water/gas gunk because I've seen that in the past in the carb bowl, but this rod was black.

Unfortunately the gas is not falling out of the tank and I imagine there is some stoppage in there as well. But how do I clean that? I thought maybe I could let seafoam sit in there for a while and hopefully dissolve it? I took a thin wire and could push it into the gas tank but didn't notice anything before I think it turns, and I'm just not sure what the inside of those are like.
Edit - I took off the tank and dumped out the gas, shook around some seafoam and then used about 40psi of air to blow into the little gas valve and it seemed to fix the flow issue, but oddly there was not a lot of junk in the tank that I could see or hear from vigorously shaking it. I dumped in a couple ounces of seafoam just to sit until tomorrow or the next chance I get to tinker.

Regarding other replies, the spark plug is pretty much brand new as well, and I've soaked that chamber with seafoam a couple times.

at this point, I think I'm getting air, and the spark is good, but I think the fuel just isn't getting delivered from the tank to the carb. Also had a fresh oil change as well and its still clean.

 

[SirLawnboy]

You might never see this again!