2010 Tohatsu 6hp won't start

Hoping someone can help me since my local service techs have a 2 week turn around time. I am still under warranty I know. Went to start my outboard 2 days ago and the cowling/motor jerked to the side...no problem pulling the cord and it was in neutral. Normally before I go to start the outboard, I shift it into forward, neutral, reverse, then back to neutral to make sure I am in neutral. I couldn't get the shifter to go into reverse. I opened up the cowling & I can see the little white plastic piece that moves when I move the shifter. After about an hour I got it to go into reverse. Started up engine in neutral and it ran fine the rest of the day. Yesterday I had the same problem again. Then when I finally got it started again, almost full throttle had no power and eventually died. Any thoughts? Thanks!

Don't try to shift when the motor isn't running. As long as you are in N and the safety is disengaged (so the recoil turns), you should pull OK.

As for the starting/running problem, could be almost anything, so it needs to be diagnosed properly. Sounds like you may be attempting to start when the fuel in the carb is very low of contaminated with water, resulting in a minor backfire/pop through the carb.

Most common problems today are fuel-related. Verify fuel hose properly connected, vent open, etc. If the fuel is over 30 days old, get fresh gas and try that.