The last 3 I saw, 2 had no symptoms until bang, and the other 1 had a few months of oil lamp taking too long to go out in the morning, then one morning had about 9 km of light knocking until bang
.
ALL of them showed signs of fatigue or materials failure at point of breakage, and ALL were 1998/9 build dates. The last one had got up to 450,000km and had an exemplary service history and driven properly, 1 owner. Had big ends replaced at the 400K service and at that time I noticed the delamination of the bearing shells.
Overall they are a fantastic engine, simple and robust.
for example I have recently bought my inlaws a 1 owner 470,000km 1999 Tdi auto D1, as one of my customers was about to trade it and they offered him peanuts. I paid him $5k beacuase I know this car VERY well and has had very regular services, the head gasket replaced, and cooling system overhauled in the last 3 years as it was a horse float tower. To date it is still going beautifully and should easily see 500,000km plus as they do only long highway km's in it, and I get it back to service it every 10K. 
JC.
The Isuzu 110. Solid and as dependable as a rock, coming soon with auto box😊
The Range Rover L322 4.4.TTDV8 ....probably won't bother with the remap..😈
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