Long story short - My son and I were in the process of changing out the water pump and a number of other items on the front of my '04 MCS (88,000 miles). We had disassembled the car to the point where checking the oil level in the supercharger would not take much more work. My supercharger was not displaying any symptoms, but I had read a number of threads about supercharger failure due to lack of lubrication. We pulled the SC and found that the rear gear case was bone dry. The front case had some lubricant, but appeared to be low. The gears appeared to be in excellent shape, no observable wear and no signs of metal chips in the gearbox. I'm hoping I just dodged a bullet.

I searched through quite a few threads regarding the oil to use and GM Supercharger Oil (GM Part No. 12345982) is the preferred lubricant. My problem, it's Sunday, all the dealers are closed, and I need to get the car back on the road today. Some earlier sites mentioned a Red Line Gear Lubricant as a possible alternative. Has anyone used the Red Line (or similar) gear lube for an extended period of time and what were the results? I'm figuring some lubrication is better than none. If it weren't such a hassle to change the oil in the SC, I would just fill with Red Line for now and then change the oil once I had obtained the GM product. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

Not sure if this helps... Accordingly to the bottle (I'm going my gearbox and diff today!), Redline MTL has the same nominal viscosity as 10W-30 motor oil. Maybe in a pinch you could use good quality synthetic motor oil? Or do you have some Redline MTL on hand? I only ask because it's not something I could get on a Sunday...

In any case, the theoretical mechanic in me says any good quality oil of approximately the right viscosity is better than no oil. In a pinch, given that it's good for your gearbox and differential, I can't see that there's any harm MTL would do even if used long term in your supercharger gears... But that's total guesswork based on a lesser university degree in highly theoretical physics.

But on to my car: supercharger oil is not something that had ever occurred to me. I assume this is not something that's easy to change, and is something BMW called a lifetime fluid? Time for me to do some reading!

 

I do have access to Redline MTL. This looks to be my only option at this point.

Thanks for your quick response.

 

I think you are better off just waiting, dealing with the inconvenience of getting it done Monday and doing it properly once. All I can say is taking the easy way out has never worked for me in the long haul. Do it right the first time. Even renting a car for $50 for a day might seem like a really cheap plan B looking back if things go badly.

Just my thoughts.

Any lube is better than nothing, but it is so hard to get in to do the work I would rather spend money on a rental than tear down the car a second time (that's just me)

 

I appreciate the quick feedback regarding SC lubrication choices. Waiting to obtain the GM Supercharger Oil, unfortunately was not an option. We were working on the car at the repair shop where my son works, so leaving it disassembled in the middle of the floor was not possible. We filled both SC gearboxes with Redline MTL and so far, so good. I recorded the mileage when the new lubricant was added and will post if something bad develops.

 

Hope it works. I know Redline MTL works great in the transmission.

 

How is the MTL holding up in the supercharger PDFLINT ?

 

So far, so good. Have only put 3,500 miles on the car since, most all of it city driving. The only difference that I notice is a high pitched whine when the car is cold. Almost sounds the same as the radio interference you used to hear when running non-resistor spark plugs. The whine started right after the new lubricant was installed, but disappears as the car warms up. I hoping its just a property of the lubricant.

 

Just a quick update, I am now approaching 30,000 miles since I replaced the OEM supercharger lubricant with Redline MTL. The more pronounced whine mentioned in my last update is still there, but has not gotten any worse. Fingers crossed.

 

The MTL fluid is a great option, we use the AC Delco supercharger oil on all of our rebuilds, or oil changes with no issue.

http://www.detroittuned.com/supercharger-oil/

Good to see you revived your old thread to provide feedback

 

Good to know....and the more pronounced whine is a bonus!

 

I can't help but wonder has anyone ever filled one with John Deere Cornhead grease?

 

Don't.

The bearings need the viscosity to be far lower than that of grease.

I've seen chargers start to bubble out the fill plug because of being overfull, I'd be a little worried to see what happens with that heavy of a grease.

 

I was not being smart and only purchased 1 bottle of ac delco oil and I’m running low on time, I’m thinking about mixing in 2 ounces of some other oil to my 4oz of ac Delco any thoughts?

 

One bottle should be enough. If memory serves, you use 100ml in the front and 25ml in the back. The bottle is 4.5oz which is ~133ml.

 

ok I already ordered another bottle which was $20 for some reason because a lot of sources said I would need 6 oz

 

Get 2.

 

For some reason, I thought it the container I have is 4.5 oz but it's 4 oz, same as the one Nervos linked. My apologies.