Poorly manufactured components

[edd]

I decided to go with a remap to boost me from 138 BHP to 188 BHP (cant remember the torque figures).  It was possibly just a coincidence, but the car started juddering between 1600 and 2200 RPM. Sent the remap (tuning box) back for a software upgrade but the car continued to judder once I'd removed it.  The juddering/RPM fluctuations got worse.  Eventually on a long drive at night, I noticed a shed load of smoke out the back of the car while the car was juddering, then all of a sudden, no power. It seemed it had gone into 'limp home' mode. Then the engine warning light came on.

 

Not having a compatible fault code reader, I decided to just change some parts.  Initially I removed the EGR valve and cleaned it up, then refitted it with some new gaskets.  It wasn't completely blocked but wasn't far off.   I also changed the fuel filter (even though I'd already changed it on a service a couple of months previous).  They are cheap enough, so why not.  I also changed the MAF sensor (not so cheap).

 

Unfortunately the juddering carried on, so I disconnected the MAF sensor. All of the juddering had vanished, although the car didnt have as much power as normal.  However, previously I had noticed that there was some sort of loud blowing/air noise only audible from the passenger side of the car when accelerating on boost.

 

Obviously, the intercooler is also on that side so I popped the bonnet and the under tray for a spot of invest.  I couldn't see anything or hear anything.  It only seemed to make the noise under load.  The only thing I noticed was a really small spattering of oil on the under side of the passenger head light.

 

Today, I eventually got around to ripping out the intercooler (without removing the bumper and head light) It wasn't until I had actually got it out of the engine bay that I noticed a large fracture in the metal where it joins the plastic base.  

 

I did a bit of on line research and it appears people have had similar experiences although it always seems to be the hoses that fail.  I was pretty surprised that the intercooler had failed like this as the car has only covered 44k miles.  At least I managed to find the problem I suppose, without paying extortionate garage labour fees etc.  Although now, I need to read and get rid of the engine codes that put the engine warning light on. Hopefully its all been down to the intercooler. I've also got to now go and buy a new intercooler.

 

I've been looking at VAG505 fault code readers on eBay etc and the T55 but not sure what to go with.  I want to be able to reset the service interval warning after I've serviced it too, but it appears that these code readers aren't guaranteed to be able to reset the interval.

 

Does anyone have any advice on code readers?  

 

On closer inspection of the intercooler once removed and cleaned, it appears that where the main aluminium body is formed around the inlet and outlet sections, the aluminium angles are full of hair line cracks.  This could only have occurred at manufacture by failing to heat the aluminium correctly before shaping.  Surely the Quality control department should have been on top of issues like this. I definitely would not have expected this from a company with such a reputation.

 

Below are a couple of pics of the dodgy intercooler. (it was almost impossible to make out the fracture whilst it was fitted to the car)