Re: Most common problems....
In my experience, most prob's/breakdowns/failures are caused by an unfamiliar/inexperienced operator using it. Often involves badly flooding an engine, not priming the engine, gorilla-man breaking a pull start rope, running over monofilament, hitting rock... one of the more creative ones was on a dual start tiller motor (both electric start and rope), pulling the rope enough to engage the recoil, then remembering the electric start (still holding the rope tight), and then hitting the "start" button... Broke the manual recoil off the top of the motor, and broke the electric starter off the block. Oops, "the engine broke".
Not doing proper winterizing and getting gummed up carbs or a damaging the lower unit is probably up there too.... as is a newbie not adding oil to the gas. Sometimes people think they'll do you a "favor" by filling up the tanks behind your back... you know... like a surprise, to show they're a nice guy. That hasn't happened to me (yet), but I've heard of it.
As you can probably guess, I'm happiest when I'm in control.
