Charge Air Cooler in OE Supplier

A boost system part: the intercooler, which fills with oil from a failing turbo and then becomes a reservoir that feeds the new one.

We are an independent parts supplier. We are not Volkswagen, Audi, Seat or Skoda, and we are not appointed by any of them. Those are their trademarks and what we sell are parts that fit their cars. The useful thing about this group is that four badges share platforms and share parts, so the same component fits a Golf, an A3, a Leon and an Octavia and costs four different amounts at four different counters. We list it once, at one price, and tell you which platform it belongs to.

Specification and fitment

• Fits: Golf Mk5 Mk6 Mk7 Mk8, Passat B6 B7 B8, A3 8P 8V 8Y, A4 B8 B9, Leon 1P 5F KL, Octavia 1Z 5E NX, and the other group cars on the same platforms
• Platform: chosen above. This part is shared across the group. The Volkswagen, the Audi, the Seat and the Skoda all take it, it is the same component in four different boxes, and the price here is the same whichever badge is on your car. Choose your badge above for your records, not because it changes anything.
• Engine: 1.6 and 2.0 TDI, 1.4 1.8 and 2.0 TSI. This group changes specification mid production and does it on a platform basis rather than a model year basis, so two cars registered the same week can take different parts. Send us the VIN with the order and we check the part against the build data before anything is dispatched. It takes two minutes and it is the difference between a part that fits and a return.
• Production dates: 2003 to 2022 depending on platform
• Quality: made by the firm that supplies the group, in that firm's own box rather than a dealer box. Same casting, same line, and on a group that shares parts across four brands this is where the saving actually is
• Part number: cross referenced to the group part number for your VIN and confirmed before dispatch. We do not print one number against a listing that covers several supersessions, because on this group the supersessions are the whole point
• The failure this addresses: underboost, overboost, limp mode, a whistle, a flat spot, or a car that simply feels slower than it did. Most of these are the actuator, a solenoid, a split pipe or a diverter valve rather than the turbo itself
• Labour time: twenty minutes to six hours depending on the part
• Coding: no coding, but the adaptation channels should be reset with a diagnostic system afterwards or the car keeps running on values it learned from the failed part. An electronic actuator is calibrated to its turbo and cannot be swapped between units
• Also needed: gaskets, clamps, manifold nuts, and engine oil and filter where the oil circuit has been opened
• Torque: manifold nuts to the figure and in sequence. A warped manifold face leaks and sounds exactly like a failing turbo
• Interval: the cam follower is worth inspecting at every oil service on a direct injection petrol engine, and it takes twenty minutes
• Weight: approximately 5.4 kilograms
• Warranty: two years or 24,000 miles, whichever comes first
• The cam follower: On the direct injection petrol engines the high pressure fuel pump is driven off a lobe on the camshaft through a small bucket follower. The follower wears through, and once it does the pump body eats the camshaft lobe. The follower costs about fifteen pounds and the camshaft does not. It is worth pulling the pump and looking at it every oil service, and it takes twenty minutes.
• The diverter valve: the original diaphragm design split and gave a car that felt flat with no fault code. The revised piston type is a different part number and it is what we supply
• Check the cheap things: boost sensor, N75 solenoid, split charge pipe, diverter valve. Between them they account for more underboost faults than failed turbos do
• Oil in the intercooler: drain it before a new turbo goes on, or it feeds straight back in

What arrives

• the part as described
• gaskets, clamps and manifold nuts
• copper grease where fasteners will be disturbed again
• instructions with torque figures

Fitting

Twenty minutes to six hours. If you are fitting a turbo, replace the oil feed line and drain the intercooler first, because both of those are why second turbos fail.

Which version to buy

The eighteen pound cam follower on this page is the best value item in this shop. It wears through, the fuel pump then eats the camshaft lobe, and a camshaft is not eighteen pounds. Pull the pump and look at it every oil service. Beyond that, work up the price list: sensor, solenoid, diverter valve, actuator, and only then the turbo.