I own one, and my experience has been that the seals around the carbs will go bad if you use ethanol-blended gas. This will allow the beast to leak gas and suck air. That is what is causing the hard starting problem. The seals are a %!ยค to replace, I would recommend turning off the gas and starting it to run all of the gas out of the carbs. Then, get some JB Weld and place it around the carbs where it leaks gas. It solved my problems and is cheap and an easy fix. And do not use anymore ethanol-blended fuel!!! I just remembered, use Original JB Weld, not JB quick. And be sure to clean all surfaces with some solvent or rubbing alcohol.