Hmmmm... I've heard of many problems with the 4 cycle trimmers. Too many unknowns becoming known. Did you fill it with the proper amount of oil? Check the air filter for saturation with oil, check the plug like baymee said, I'll bet it got oil on it and its fouled. Neal

You left gas in the carb for long time, even you vitually inspect the internal of the carb, it might not be good enough. Get SeaFoam and run a tankful and see what happen since you can somehow start it. If you are going to leave gas in the trimmer for storage, use Stabil from now on. The way I store stuff is to empty the tank, run it dry, close the choke, prime the bulb, hold full throttle and start it and let it run to stop, and keep pulling while holding full throttle. This should pull all the gas out of the carb. THis work only on handheld trimmer etc.

Was the trimmer working fine then started to make life difficult kinda slowly? To each his own, but here's my take on this. First, change the plug. As far as priming, I push the bulb until I see fuel reach the carb through the hose, then I give it one more push...too much then you have too much fuel for a choke setting and have to work it out resulting in more pulls. If you are priming more than 5 times and there is no leak, you are likely going to flood it. Does the trimmer have a 3-step choke? This is similiar to most of the homeowner types found today. With the fresh plug, try to start in this manner then tell me how it's doing.... When cold, prime about 3-4 times..no more. Choke fully closed, full throttle, give it a few pulls until it starts to want to run. When it fires up..this is important, you may not be able to reach the choke to switch to the 2nd setting before it dies, that's o.k...if you do, well done, but if it dies, move to the 2nd position, full throttle, should fire right up and stumble from the choke..lots of smoke..yadda yadda but it will stay running. Once it's started in the 2nd position, you may ease off the throttle and blip it a few times to warm it up, after about 10-15 sec of this move the choke to full open and easily apply the throttle until its wide-open and stays running, return to idle, then WOT and if it responds quickly off you go. If the motor dies during the warm-up in the 2nd position, DON'T re-prime, whatever you do or you will flood it.....a very overlooked instance. This is also important... If it dies in the 2nd pos, you can pull the starter no more than 2 times and if it doesnt fire, close the choke fully again, NO PRIME and pull the cord and you won't need full throttle, just when it fires in closed pos, move to 2nd and blip the throttle, like when it was cold, then open the choke, you have to repeat all the steps if it dies before warm. This has worked on every two-stroke trimmer I have owned, a few chainsaws seem to run better when cold but the little trimmer motors need finesse. Nevermind what the owners manual says.....what are they thinking :) Also, give the trimmer a shake before you start it in case any oil may have settled but generally it stays in suspension. Good luck. Don't forget the plug.

I have a Honda HHT31SLTA that I bought last summer and absolutely love it. I wanted a 4 stroke because I hate having the seperate can as well as the high level of vibration. It works well at mid to high revs, but seems to not have the top end power I expected. If I don't use the choke it will start on the second or third pull, if I'm quick turning the choke off I can do it on one pull. It's been very reliable so far. I changed the oil and it was a snap. Just warm it up then turn it upside down and let the oil drain out of the filler hole. I was afraid I'd make a mess but that didn't happen. Filling it took some time but luckily I have a very small funnel and filling the case was easy. The only downside is the weight, at 14 pounds and change it's not light, but I knew I was making a trade off when I bought it. The included shoulder strap takes some of the burden off, especially when walking between spots to trim. I don't really run mine upside down, and haven't seen anything in the manual about how long you can run it when it's not level. A lot of people are paranoid about this but I don't worry about it. Hope that helps. Go to www.hondapowerequipment.com and check out the manual for yourself. You'll also get an idea of the recommended maintenance.