Well hi there Rob. I will try to explain that your conclusion is totally wrong and just based on your suggestion. If your intercooler was the
problem, than the story would be as following.
Your temperatur went OVER AND BEYOND the temp of 90-92 degrees. That is very easy to tell, you can see that on the dash. So if you really saw that, like up to 100 degrees or more, the turbo is not the
problem. The
problem then is, that you were stupid enough to keep on pulling behind the cars limits. But I don't think that is true, is it.
If the intercooler is running out, you can always tell.
I think, correct me if i am wrong, that your turbo blew up, without any warning or whatso-ever. There are several reasons why this happens. I will give you the some of the best:
1) pulling the turbo to soon, so when the OIL temp is not right yet ( takes very LONG - mostly up to 15-20 minutes)
2) a leak in the system, oil, weak bearings, turbo not correctly mounted
3) turbo is not 100 % from day one (it is made by men)
And what happens very, very often, is using the turbo in the wrong way.
Your car is mounted with the KKK Borg-Warner K04 TFSI turbo. Most people totally do not know what the real range of the turbo is. The main
problem with the K04 is, that it really has a limit. It falls of like hell. This starts far more early then the 'red' lines in your rpm.
Lot's of people who have a fast car, don't really know where the power / torque is at it's best. I see lots of young guys, that drive the turbo over his max peak. It makes a lot of noise and more important, your turbo gets really hot and is constantly pushed to and over it's limits.
Driving a turbo motor is firstly using your brains and knowing what the turbo can do and cannot do. Again, a IC will give you ZERO extra power. It will make it possible to use your power longer and safer. My kkk04 turbo will be internally upgraded. This results in a higher peak performance of the turbo, up to an range above 6500 rpm. But more important, the turbo will spool up more early. Even with this update I will stay with the normal Intercooler at first.
Tuning is not about 'modding' . Tuning is about using the best parts that really connect with each other and play in each others range. If you mount a BIG Garrett turbo, than you will need more cooling. Same for intake and exhaust. Intake and turbo. Fuel and air.