I'm glad it's fixed but WOW, you haven't looked at your airfilter in 2.5 years?? Nor did the mechanic?

I've learned my lesson with a Blaster, bought it from a person that said it had sat for a few months; while I kicked it and kicked it and I drew all that garbage into the crank. Cost me about 600$ to fix it and I'll never again try to start something that has sat for some time without checking it all out!

Strange that it affected the starting system though....