I was given a new Poulan Pro 158cc 22" mower that they hit something with and bent the crankshaft, the mower don't have 25 hrs on it and after replacing the crankshaft and timing sheer pin it will run good and strong "with out" the air cleaner, it has a paper air cleaner and I thought it might be plugged and that is how I found out it runs great with out, with it it will run OK until you hit grass and it seems to flood out, I got a old style with the foam filter and made sure it was clean and oiled and tried it, the same thing, it floods out till it dies, unless you take the air filter off, I have check everything, this is show room clean, governor is free and with the air cleaner off you can slow the motor down to barely a idle, I have worked on small engines for 20 plus years and really scratching my head on this one :confused2: