98-01 4cyl turbo engines

[Dan DiBiase]

Alex Cagann <alex at symbolicautosales.com> wrote: Is it true that these engines are known for blowing up easily?  The reason I ask, I have just heard of the 4th one in the past year to go in my circle of friends. All of them have gone before 100k miles, and they have been A4's with the 4 cylinder turbo engine years 98-01. The latest one, a 98, just went last week, this one blew a head gasket and overheated. A good fried of mine who is a euro tech, told me he sees these engines going all the time. He said if the engine doesn't go first, then the turbo will...because you
MUST use synthetic oil in these (again..these are his words). Well...what's the real story here?  If this is true...what can owners do to curtail problems?

I haven't heard anything about these engines being prone to 'blowing up'. I guess I would ask first, were these all unmodified engines? I.e., no cold air intakes, chips, larger turbos, changed intercoolers, etc? Was the maintenance done timely? Oil changes, timing belts/tensioners changed? What were their driving habits? What kind of mileage on the engines?

Audi HAS changed the maintenance schedule on these engines, recommending synthetic oil and a larger oil filter and the first change at 5k miles versus 10k.

Dan D
Central NJ USA