98-01 4cyl turbo engines

[thejimrose]

" The latest one, a 98, just went last week, this one blew a head gasket and
overheated."

hmm.. usually they overheat, then blow the headgasket. because something
stupid like the 10$ fan switch or thermostat failed. so how much of that is
the motors fault?

i have had several experienced audi vw mechanics and tuners  tell me the
motors are "bulletproof"- barring of course it doesn't suffer the commonly
known problems; sludge and tbelt tensioners seizing. and has been well
looked after as far as maintenance, and parts quality. especially the early
DBW motors - AEB specifically is known to be the stoutest of the 1.8's.

also there are a lot of guys making a lot of boost / power with these cars,
and the motors hold up fine. the turbo's will wear out, typically 80-100k
from what ive seen /heard. my ko3 was shot at about 110k [smoking, shaft
play, no power, sounded like a dentist drill] so i replaced it with a ko4
and then turned up the boost from 8 to 18 psi. ive beeen driving it hard for
25k with no issues.

mine does have a rebuilt head, PO didn't get to the tbelt in time, but when
i had the VC off it looked pretty clean, aka more frequent oil changes and
synthetic. however there are a LOT of 1.8t's out there so failures are bound
to happen. and you hate to blame the victim but i would bet maintenance [or
lack thereof] plays a factor in most of those.