Joe mine needs lots of fuel to hand start.... with ignition on, choke closed, and throttle open full, then I flip it till it pops. Throttle to idle start position and choke open then it usually takes 2-4 flips. Also I have noticed it to be consistent with the first start of the day it won't idle until it warms up. The factory ignition lasted three flights for me so I purchased the RCXEL from AgapeRC, everything's been good since then. Hope this works for you��