>As I recall, most cylinders registered around 110 to 118 or 119 PSI. One
>was in the 122  to 125  range.

>The engine has 206k Km on the odometer.   Is this a sign from the VW gods
>that that engine is not in the best of health?

>Can I trust this motor ?  Will it get me thorough another season ?

Well, first of all, no one has answered the issue of whether the published
specs are for a warm engine or a cold one. I think a good point was made
in that dry or oiled in the cylinders will have an effect as well.

Which way was the testing done?  I bet if it was done cold, doing it on a
hot/warm motor would increase those numbers a bit.

Bentley says that the water cooled engine is nominal 145-189psi, minimum
is 116psi, and the max difference between any two cylinders should not
exceed 44psi. Your numbers are quite low based on that info, but since the
cylinders are all fairly close to each other in psi, I think you have an
old engine that is just wearing out. If you had one that was way off from
the others, then that would be a concern.

Overall, they read low, and in an ideal world, it would be nice to get a
new motor, and the extra HP the higher compression would bring, but one
person's opinion is that there is nothing wrong to be worried about based
on those numbers, other than a motor wearing down equally in each
cylinder, which means less power than a newer engine.

My air cooled is on the low end of the spec as well, but they are all
nearly equal in psi, and it shows in the power department, but it runs
smooth, doesn't burn oil, and short of dropping the feared valve seat, I
think I have a lot of miles left in it.

Take the trips, enjoy the ride, and post the pictures where we can see
them :-)

John