You're right Andy. She really drags the tone down. She's got worse while you were away. This happened to me outside Heine Gericke once.
Are you sure that they all haven't just broken down? Or is it that they stopped for fuel and then couldn't get going again?
I have had more false starts with the blade believe it or not. flooded a few times over the summer on the real hot days. 848 never once failed to start