Bought in 2000 would make it 9 years old. Ran good for a few years??? So it started smoking in 2003. So it was smoking for 6 years? I doubt you spent more than $200 on it. That's $22/year. I would say you got you money's worth. I would definitely not fix a 9 year old trimmer. I just came from the stihl dealer today and that have nice trimmers for $185. Even at 5 years you got your money's worth.

classic dirty carb symptoms. Dunno if it is worth attempting to fix. Being a tightwad/ tinkerer, I would prolly give it a try.