White lawn mower spraying gas up from exhaust chamber

[Npgcast]

I've recently been trying to get my old white lawn mower with B&S 15 hp running again. It's been sitting for quite some time and has accrued a lot of rust and mice droppings. It did however start up and drive but very inconsistently. I have to play with the clutch to keep the engine going and it actually caught on folire around the muffler area the other day. Today, after unsuccessfully starting I noticed as I was turning the ignition that gas was spraying out of the muffler area. Any ideas why this is happening? Also, I checked my dip stick and it does smell like it has some gas in it. It seems like a carburator issue but could it also have something to do with my spark plug and wire (it's looking a bit chewed up)?

Thanks
Nate

 

[ILENGINE]

Your going to need to remove, clean and install a repair kit in the carb, then change the oil and filter if it has one. That should take care of most of the problems. The chewed up spark plug wire could be arching out and giving you an intermittent spark, A heavy layer of electric tape on the wire might work at least temporarily.

 

[Npgcast]

Thanks! I'll take a look at the carb