Brace yourself; this may take a few minuets. We have had a 98 vw passat wagon with the 1.8 turbo since 75K, it now has 94K. In that time we have dumped a lot of money into this pricey wagon. New brakes, tires, sparkplugs/wires/control module(?), new a/c parts and of course new sunroof drains (with a normal drain tube now). Now that we have those things out of the way I need to focus on the next two remaining problems the timing belt and control arms. First the timing belt.
The timing belt cover has been missing since my wife and I purchased the car. I only realized far too late. Nevertheless it leads me to believe someone has had the cover in order to do the timing belt. Is there anyway for me to know for sure? Is there anyway I can inspect to see if the water pump was changed along with the updated pulley I keep hearing about in other vw' post?
Next, the control arms are rattling like crazy. When I took it to the mechanic last time he said that my control arms all had rotted out bushings. He quoted me 1500 to put on the aftermarket control arms that have been designed to keep the same problems from happening again (they were made by someone like Mowen or Mounen?) My question is, how important is it that I get this done, and is it a semi-novice type job I could do on my own? I've done some work on other cars, but haven't had some of the specific tools to work on the vw (Anyone living in Houston is welcome to come by and give me a hand lol)
Thanks in advance.

bummer you dont live in MN, I could help ya out.

Timing belt on 98 is fairly simple. The water pump is external and isnt necessary to replace unless its noisey or leaking. There isnt really a way to check if its been replaced before or not, but I wouldnt reccomend driving w/o a t-belt cover.

control arms.- check ebay type in passat control arm. You can buy a kit that includes all control arms and tie rod ends for 500.00.