Hi. I have a cheap Rally 22" push lawn mower about 5 years old now. I ran into a problem late last year when it seemed to be losing power. If my memory serves me correctly, I did take off the carburator and cleaned it and everything around it then. Don't believe it helped any. Noticed same/similar problem this year. Starts up ok and runs at lower engine speed than desired. In other words, engine does not increase speed that much when have speed at highest setting. I also notice that is strong gas/oil? smell when mow, and uses more gas than used to (about 1/3 more). I did just take the air cleaner off and clean the foam filter, and changed the engine oil, but did not make any real difference. Looks like is getting too much gas and not enough air! ........ but this cheap Briggs and Stratton engine does not have any carb adjustments that I can see. Any advice? Thx. Bob
I have the same mower and it did the same to me a while back. the problem may be the throttle cable being loose and not opening the engine up all the way. You may have a fuel leak probably in the fuel line somewhere, they get cracked and gas will seep from them when mowing. I don't know for sure if this is your problem but it was for mine and it is almost the same age as yours.