NEVER use starting fluid.
It washes the oil off the crank and can score bearings
squirt a little premix down the carb to see if it will fire
also highly flammable and if you are spraying and spraying and all of a sudden it fires, KABOOM! not good.
As for the vent on the gas tank, Its the thing that looks like the top off a ketchup squeeze bottle right? I should be able to blow into it but not suck correct?
I poured some premix in the carb and it fired up right away so its got to be the needle. I'm just have trouble finding a screwdriver that is small enough to take that cover off. To access the needle its the cover on the starboard side of the carb with four philips screws right?