Mower's been running well after changing points (for about a month) until I tried starting it Friday evening. Cranked well, but wouldn't catch. Pulled air filter housing off and could see brown liquid sitting on base of filter housing. Cranked again and saw brownish fluid sputtering up from the hose connecting the crankcase. My first thought: fuel pump is leaking gas into the engine.
It was time for a mid-season oil change anyway, so the next morning I pulled the dipstick and it was way up over the level of where it was the previous week. Drained oil and it gushed out and smelled of gas. Bummer!
Thought I was hosed for mowing, but wait! I remembered bypassing the fuel pump when I had this trouble earlier. So, got a straight piece of fuel line and bypassed the pump, filled up the crankcase with SAE-30 oil and filled the gas tank and she fired right up. Mowed for the next 1-1/2 hours w/o a problem.
Thanks to suggestions on this forum I was able to keep going instead of being stuck. And whoever said something on here about Stens fuel pumps being crap, I now believe them.
I may just keep the bypass and make sure the gas tank is over the half-full mark.