I've had a tohatsu six hp four stroke for three years now. It has been hard to start from the beginning. I've followed the instructions in the manual: pump the fuel bulb, pull out the choke, throttle to the lowest setting (the turtle.) Last time I used the engine, on a pretty warm summer day, it took me 15 minutes and about 30 pulls on the cord to get it started, with numerous pauses from one minutes to five in between attempts. And then, in desperation, I tried starting it with the throttle in the the highest setting (rabbit.) I got a cough on the first try and success on the second. I don't know whether I'm flooding or starving the carburator but I do believe it's a fuel problem of either too little or too much. I use Stabil in the fuel. Once started, the engine runs fairly well, although I do get some hesitation when throttling up from the lowest setting to the midrange. Any tips for getting this thing started without tearing the skin off my pull-cord hand?
