Its kind of hard to describe, but I'm getting kind of a rotational grinding noise at idle. It sounds like its coming from the passenger side top of the engine. Which leads me to believe that it would be the supercharger. My 02 S only has 30K miles and I'm really wondering what is going on? Anyone have a similar problem? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thats what my '04 MCS sounded like before my s/c failed at 16K.

 

before you start to tear apart your engine check to see if the tensioner pulley for your serpentine belt is functioning properly. This sounds like the grindy rattely noise of one of these going haywire

 

Sounds can "sound" like they are coming from all kinds of areas.
Prob the s/c and or the water pump. That's the most common. Unfortunately.

Take a "stethoscope" type listening device and "pin-point" the noise.

That's not to say that it "could" be the belt tensioner.
Might be the timing chain tensioner, but unlikely.

 

Thanks for all the help. It turns out that the oil in the supercharger was way down. I refilled it with gear oil and for the time being all is well, but I'm definitely going to keep an eye on it.

 

Did you check both sides? It requires removal of the SC.

 

How did you check the gear oil? I assume you had to tear apart alot of the front end to get to it?

 

no I only checked the passenger side because that was definitely the source of the noise. There is an easily accessable drain plug on the s/c that allows for the level to be checked and added to if necessary. No disassembly required

 

Be aware that there are a set of gears that will fail if run low on oil on the other side...

 

I would be interested in knowing how to check the gear oil. Could you maybe explain how you whent about doing that.
Thanks!

 

Sorry I'm a little late on my response. If you follow your engine oil dipstick tube down, you will see a torx key drain plug on the side of the s/c. The gear oil should start to come out a little upon taking the plug out.