Small Engines (Lawn Mowers, etc.): B&S 24 HP Intek, crankcase oil, robin subaru

Question
Hi Paul, I have a 2002 Scotts 2048 I bought with a blown motor and replaced it with a 24hp new take-off craftsman (intek twin). The worst running small engine ever, has 17 hours on it, and probably took 17 gallons of gas to get there. It smells of raw gas most of the time, if I cut the throttle down to idle and back to full it stumbles and belches huge clouds of black smoke and the neighbors complained. It got so hard to start cold, twice the battery died trying. I put $15 worth of 3G plugs in it and it starts a bit better but it still stinks of gas. I asked B&S online and the response was the carb needs adjusting or the air filter is dirty. help please before I catch fire, thanks Chuck

Answer
You are right Chuck. This engine is a piece of crap.
Briggs told you to adjust the carb? It can't even be adjusted.
Black smoke=rich, always.
You need to remove and clean the carb. The needle valve is leaking over. You then need to change the oil and filter, your crankcase oil WILL BE contaminated with fuel. My guess is that if you would have spent the 15 bucks on new fuel lines and fuel filter you wouldn't be having this problem. How long did the engine sit before the swap. If more than a month or so you probably have varnish deposits in the carb. Like I said. Clean the carb and then your neighbors will only complain about the white smoke not the blue smoke.
FYI... A mower uses FUEL gas is what your dad gets when he eats a burrito!

Kohler makes a pretty good engine if you buy the right one.
The Courage engine line is not the one to buy. This series of engines was built to compete with Briggs. It's a pretty tight race right now. Briggs is leading the crap field but only by a nose.
My engine rankings:
1 Kawasaki. It's not even close.
2 Kohler. Except the Courage series,
3 Tecumseh.
4 Robin/ Subaru
5 Briggs.