AQ125 problems

She ran fine last season but I

She ran fine last season but I seem to have lost power this year. She cranks right up with no issues but she takes forever to get on plane. Then I can get about 22mph. Last year she would jump right up and top out around 35mph. I have not pulled the plugs yet but I was wondering If it could be as simple as a tune up and carb cleaning. Another thing is that when I shut the engine down she sputtered as if she didn't want to shut down. Also at WOT i here was sounds like spark knocking but it calms down after I back off the throttle. At idle the engine is chopping a little and there is no oil in the water and the temp stays around 180.

"Your ignition seems to be qui

"Your ignition seems to be quite far out, When doing Your tune up check the springs for the counter wheights in the distributor at the same time."

"Morten is far more knowledgea

"Morten is far more knowledgeable than me, but mine (AQ125B 270 OD)did the identical thing until the u-joints fried (I didn't know what to look for at the time). What was happening was, the u-joints were so bad that they were binding the motor shaft causing what seemed to be a loss of power and spark knocking. Soon there after they went kapoot. Since replacing the u-joints she's back to 34 MPH and running great."

Well I am no longer having the

Well I am no longer having the diesel issue but when I took it out today I got up to about 24mph and then it seemed like there was a load on the engine and it started to slow down so I am thinking it may be the U-joint. Now where I need help. I removed the 2 screws that hold the steering hood in place but I am not sure how to remove part the bolts fit into. There are 2 holes and the manual says to use 2 round pieces of metal and work it back and forth.

"You need to get hold of two p

"You need to get hold of two pieces of steel rod of the same diameter as the holes and bend them 90º, then stick one on each hole and work the sleeve out. There is an updated version of the sleeve that has two tapped holes at the sides of the two regular holes, so that you can thread a couple of screws to force the sleeve out."