Its not a consistant problem, I've owned two 1998's, one is very hard to start the first time every year and the other starts on the 3rd pull after sitting all summer.
On the hard starter this year I did the usual ether and plug dance for about 40 pulls before it would start, after it started I thought, maybe its the fuel pump getting tired. So I orderd a new pump and installed it yesterday, On the first start with the new pump I left the airbox out so I could watch the fuel lines, they were about half full, the sled started right up and started idling fine, I was watching the fuel lines while it was idleing and they were not filling up ? The sled idled for about a minute then died, It was just running on the full float bowls from the first start of the year. Why dident the running engine with a new pump fill the lines?? I resumed the usual ether and plug dance all over again, the whole time watching the lines, when it finally filled the lines and started it was because I revved the motor up to 7 grand for a second, then it filled the lines instantly and ran normally.
I was looking at the fuel line coming out of the tank and it's a bit weird how its routed, it comes out of the tank and goes "uphill" to the top of the airbox and then "downhill" to the fuel pump. I wonder if you routed the fuel line directly to the pump if it would fill the lines normally?
mj