[bradford]

Not an expert by any means, but you may be hearing about Yamaha problems due to the huge amount of them out there. These yamahas have good owners and bad owners. Some do maintainence some don't. Some know to shut something off if they hear something wrong, some don't. If I was gonna buy a four stroke it would be a yamaha. A guide friend of mine has just over 3000 hours on one and does just regular maintainence. Granted his engine gets run regularly several times per week which is better than letting something sit up