Hey guys I had my belt off the other day to replace with the JCW one and I decided to rotate the supercharger to see what it was like, it was rather difficult to spin.. i dont think it was seized but it definaitly didnt spin with ease.. is this normal or am i looking at a new supercharger at only 52000 km?

 

Don't quote me on this but I don't think the SC will be very easy to spin. I've spun one before (not an M45) and there was definitely a bit of resistance. On top of that, the water pump is driven on the back of the SC so that's even more drag.

 

Have you changed the oil in the nose of the supercharger? PSE, a service company for Eaton superchargers recomends that this be done between 30,000 and 50,000 miles. I wonder if Mini has a service interval for this?

 

mini has no service interval for it... its supposed to last 100K miles... but other people have changed the fluid... i remember reading a thread about it a few months back in regards to a s/c that seized because of running out of oil. there are two plugs you can remove to fill up the s/c

 

Interesting. I knew MINI had no service interval for it but I didn't know it had bolts like the tranny for draining and filling. Can they be gotten to without moving the radiator/condensor?

 

I haven't seen one actually seize, but I have seen the water pump drive gears eat themselves up from lack of lube.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=74674
The only way to drain and fill the rear of the SC is to remove the water pump.

 

Without some kind of measurement of the amount of torque required to turn the supercharger shaft, it's hard to tell whether your condition is normal or not, but keep in mind that there's a tight fit between the supercharger lobes and the housing, or else you wouldn't be able to build much boost.

When I spun my supercharger shaft by hand with the belt off, I didn't remember it being very hard to spin, but it certainly didn't continue spinning much, if at all, after I let go.

 

Just checked my modified heavy duty SC from PSE (M45), it requires 2.5 inch pounds to turn. The dain plug is located above the pully, black with a torx reccess. The plug acts both as the fill and drain. I believe the procedure for draining the nose of the sc would require a flexible pipe and some sort of vacume assist. The SC lube should be available at the dealer parts department

 

So does that mean there are two drain/fill plugs...one by the pulley and one next to the water pump drive? I was reading on the mustang forums that they use a turkey baster and hose to suck the fluid out. If that's the case (and the one next to the pulley is accessible), changing the fluid might not be that hard.

 

The rear drain plug on the SC is similar to the one on the nose but is un serviceable. The location of this plug, between the SC and the waterpump, precludes any service short of a major undertaking. The less then optimal bearings and gearing are in the nose of the SC and seam to be the weaklink in the longevity of this unit. Changing the lubricant out may be a good idea if you intend to keep the MCS's SC running for the life of the car.

 

I have only seen one SC actually seized so far but the car was twwin charged . This poor guy has gone thru a turbo, then a piston and finally , at least for now , the SC. Luckily the mini is only a toy for him and not a daily driver .

Randy
M7 tuning

 

I am just chasing down why my car is slower then it was before... right now I have some belt issues, I just bought a JCW belt for my 15/2 setup and it has already started to deteriorate the left side of the belt , I dont know if its slipping or what but what I do know is that theres a loud chirping noise coming from the supercharger until it gets warm... do you guys think that an O2 sensor giving a bad reading to the ecu could detune your car quite a bit... probably around 15-20 whp, atleast thats what my power loss feels like.. my car was fast not its just a log that looks good bahhh its starting to depress me lol

thanks for all your responses,
Jm

 

Well I had an o2 sensor act up I ran a bit rich and got better preformance, I cou;d see it havign equally opposite effects. It sounds like you have a more serious issue at hand. Belts should be able to go much longer than that without deteriorating. I'd be concerned about the pulley being on properly and how its algined witht he other pulleys and the S/C shaft being potentially misalgined.

 

Usually if the belt is getting chewed on one side, the pulleys are misaligned.

 

what fluid should we use for supercharger? I am planing to refill it.. since I have about 80.000miles..

 

Click the link I posted above, in the other thread I posted a part number.

 

YEs I'm curious about this as well I'm almost at 50k and planning to do the oil,coolant,trans,LSD, brake and now S/C fulid swaps so I've got fresh everything.

 

a bad o2 sensor wouldnt give you better WOT performance because the ecu is running closed loop (reading tables from the map)...

it only works when your cruising... constantly trying to hit 14.7 stoich to give you a good mix between gas mileage and efficiency...


back on subject, it sounds like your belt is slipping... possibly not giving you the most amount of boost... if your belt is already getting damaged, like partsman said, the pulley hasnt been mounted correctly and is out of alignment.

 

Where it was most noticable was sitting on the highway and beign able to have that get up and go factor saving me a downshift on the interstate