40 hp mercy no power

[tubechucker]

have a 96 Mercury two stroke that has been having power trouble.  It ran fine last year and in years past but have been having trouble all year.  Struggles to get on plane and when it does it barely gets it to 14-15 mph.  Usually fires up quickly and runs at 32-33 mph.

Winterized it the same way I have done the last 7 years.  First thing I did was change the plugs which fixed the problem 2 years ago but didn't work this year.  Ran a few tanks with Mercury quick clean and even tried some seafoam in another tank.  Any thing you guys can suggest to avoid a trip to the mechanic.

[FrickerDude]

Hard to say exactly what it is.  Best place to start is to make sure to check for a good strong spark and maybe even check compression.  If all that checks out it would be time to check fuel system. Make sure fuel pump is working, run new lines, empty tank, change filter, clean and rebuild carbs.  I know it sounds like a lot but with some research on the internet it is not too bad of a job.  Good luck