[Tackling yard work myself]

I have 6.5 HP craftsman Lawn mower had for 2 years ran great until one day I ran out of gas went to put in new gas would hard to start when did ran for 1 minute die. I had friend come over put new filter, spark plug, new gasoline he took the filter off and put his hand up in place filter it started ran like crap so put the filter back on tried to start it ran for maybe 1 minute. I'm single mother just bought a house don't have $ to throw away please help baffled & lost Granite Falls Washington.....

 

[Mark / Ohio]

Welcome to MLF!

First thing to try is loosening the gas cap and see if the engine stays running. There's a little vent in the cap that can get plugged up. Other then that sounds like some dirt might have got sucked out of the bottom of the tank into the carburetor when it went dry. You can try taking it apart and cleaning it or a replacement carburetor is around $40 through Sears.

Even though it ran like crap, did it run for longer then a minute when he had his hand over the air intake? If so it definitely sounds like a fuel starvation problem.