Briggs LO206 pull cord extremely tight at TDC
Hey everyone, I have a race tomorrow and I tried starting up my kart today (after sitting for 1 week, and no I did not drain the carb since), but found the pull cord to be extremely tight, and almost felt "locked" when it was at TDC. Thankfully, it still pulled through, but it was very difficult. Safe to say I couldn't get it running.
When I removed the spark plug, I could pull the cord through normally. No fluids came out, but the spark plug did smell like gas.
I tried cleaning the carb, changing spark plugs, but nothing worked so far.
I then tried adjusting the valve lash. I set 0.003" for intake (down from 0.006"), and I left exhaust unchanged at 0.002". This time when I pulled the cord, it was a lot easier, but there was a really loud pop sound, and then it became harder to pull the cord again.
I'm out of ideas. What can I do to get this running?
Thanks