I bought a used 026 several years ago. It ran very well with plenty of power, but got hard to start. Stihl dealer replaced the carb with no real improvement. I used it that way for a year or two and took it to the dealer again. "Mechanic" said carb needed replacing again. I let them do it. When I picked it up, I asked the mechanic to start it. I'd say it took 30 pulls to get it going! I was disgusted, but paid the bill and won't go back.
Recently, I shot some fuel through the spark plug hole, replaced the plug, and the saw started on the first pull ( but quit after a few seconds). Seems like a fuel supply problem to me, but I don't know enough to know where to look.