Originally Posted by garyhgaryh

I ran out of gas on my mower the other day. I put what was left in the gas
tank which allowed it to run another 3-5 minutes or so. It started
sputtering when it was running out of gas but I
kept the mower going by bouncing the mower up and
down ... went for another minute or so. I went to get gas and accidently
poured some gas down the mesh area (intake?) as I took the nozzle out of
the tank.
I went to start it up but it was sputtering like it was running out of
gas.. Mower never died. So my question is, did I run the engine lean when
I kept it running by bouncing the mower around or did the gas I accidently
poured down the mesh/intake have anything to do with it? When I say intake
it's the grill/mesh part at the top where the pull cord runs in. Don't
know much about these lawn mower engines... When the engine is running, it
sputters but won't die although sometimes it feels like it and I see a
puff of black smoke every few secs. It no longer runs well. And I used
up a tank in two mowing days when it used to last about 5 or 6 mowing
days.

Help.
Gary