I didn’t mean to get anyone annoyed by my popping reference. I know some models of anything produced just happen to have more issues then others. I know my dads previous evinrude ficht...I think no one will argue that it was a poor design riddled with issues. Evinrude is a great brand but that engine had lots of issues. I was literally just repeating the conversation and terminology the dealer used. And I didn’t really explain it well. Regarding optimax, he was referencing earlier models of the optimax like the previous post mentioned...he was saying avoid the optimax engines that had the older cowling, but the ones with pro xs listed on the side had been fine and the dealer hadn’t seen those issues. He even pointed out the window to point at an example of the older Optimax. The thermostat question, I was just asking cus I had not experienced that with my engine and run it sometimes in a River and I read a thread on it on this website and someone PM me complaining that was his only issue with the 2 stroke pro xs and he didn’t have that issue on his previous engine. Was just curious how common it was.