Made a stupid mistake and turned mower upside down when changing blade on my troy bilt mower. Mower chokes and sputters when started. If I tip the mower back, it will start running normally for a few seconds and then goes back to choking, sputtering and smoking. Oil got in the air filter which I replaced. Where do I start?

Do these things....
1. remove the float bowl
2. remove the fuel hose to the carb.
3. Spray carb cleaner into the fuel hose connection with the float assy down.
4. Spray carb cleaner along side the float needle forcing debris UP and out of the fuel hose connection.

When you inverted the mower.. debris in the bottom of float bowl stuck the float needle in a fixed position so your carb is overflowing causing all of these symptoms.

Mower chokes and sputters when started. If I tip the mower back, it will start running normally for a few seconds and then goes back to choking, sputtering and smoking.

One more thing to clean out is the crank case breather that may be blocked . Follow the 5'16" hose from the back of the air cleaner to the crank case... near the valves. The area where the hose connects is the crank case breather. Remove the mounting screws and clean that with carb cleaner then reinstall it.

If this does NOT reslove your problem please respond with the ENGINE number so I can get you pictures and repair data so you use them as reference material while I help you.

Thanks for choosing FixYa,
Kelly

Keep it running and after it gets hot this oil should burn off,you might want to change spark plug though