Refurbed superchargers are about 800$ if your core is rebuildable....half the cost of new with better seals that most shops install. Waterpump, just get a new one, do it at the same time, since the process is the same for either one...can save you big bucks in the future. A few vendors a former vendors have scources and machine shops that do supercharger overhalls. It is possible to get more hp out of a supercharger with a custom overhall that includes porting, polishings, coatings, etc, but the price can rapidly go up...depends what you want. If you supercharger needs to be replaced because it has worn/destroyed supercharger gears, shop carefuly, many shops do not offer replacent and will charge you a core. Superchargertechgies in oldtown fl used to offer a great price, but they may be doing wholesale only now, as their retail website is gone. They were the cheapest, and did the waterpump gears too! not a high end rebuild, but most reports said they did a good job. Tsw might have dealings with them still, I think they did a supercharger for the owner and may offer service too. Most other MINI shops should have connection to locals shops that do overhaluls too!!

EDIT------------after reading a post by one of out vendors on another site, I can no longer recommend going with the FL guys in oldtown FL. He had to replace "several" that failed in the first 2 months, and stated they are "JUNK". that is enough for me.

 

be careful not all SC are rebuilt the same and many have found out the hard-$-way. The M45 SC is not "just another Eaton" and takes twice as long to rebuild right.

Be sure to ask your rebuilder how they replace and then retain the “factory captive bearing/s and or seal/s”. Many shops will not remove a bearing that’s captive and if they do remove or replace it they use glue to hold it in. That glue will break down over time and may cause even more damage to the M45 case.

Note it's the captive seal behind the captive bearing in the PTO that goes bad allowing the rotors to suck the oil out of the PTO and if not changed or if changed poorly will lead to the same issue you started with. That is why most rebuilders only offer a 30 day warranty. IMHO.

 

good info, and good questions to ask a rebuilder!!!

 

Thought I might chime in here, as I just lost my supercharger and went through some expensive repairs and a couple of weeks downtime. I'll start out with a description of the noises that started and a little background on the repairs.

I have an 03 Electric Blue Cooper S, that has about 48,000 mile on it. Running fine, no major repairs engine-wise, then driving to work one day I hear a loud rattle coming from the front of the engine bay. I've had a similar noise pop up now and then, but every time I checked the oil, it was down about a half of a quart and I suspect the tappets were dry on these other occasions. Once I aded oil, the noise went away.

But not this time. This noise can best be described as a "clacking", noticeable inside the cabin and DEFINITELY once the hood was open. Sounded like a very loud diesel, and coming from what seems like the left side of the intercooler. So I suspected a supercharger issue. However, no warning lights came on and so I managed to limp home.

As I pull onto my home street, the sound mysteriously disappears and I think I'm in the clear. About three minutes later, the temperature gauge pegs and I shut the car off immediately.

Get the car towed to the M Shop in Eagle Rock, CA, this is a shop that if you are in the Los Angeles area, I cannot recommend high enough. I'd been here before for servicing, they are much cheaper than any dealership in the area and they walk you through everything they do. In fact, they are the ones that took the accompanying photos as they went through the repairs. I can't thank them enough for their service.

At this point, the car would not run for more than 5 minutes without overheating, so after a quick check of the thermostat (CHECK!), they dug into the supercharger and water pump assembly:


and found nothing wrong with the water pump but completely stripped drive gears for the water pump attached to the supercharger shaft. Take a look:





This has been covered before, but basically the sealed supercharger sprung a leak and dried out, and the drive gears didn't last much longer after that. Long story short, the gears were NOT serviceable, and so I dropped $1600 on a refurbished supercharger from the dealership (there are no longer any brand new superchargers left in North America, although there are about 660 left in Europe), plus $ for labor and water pump, etc.

On the bad side, the dealership charger a $100 core charge for the old supercharger, and I didn't keep it as the shop advised my that it would be very difficult to sell this used supercharger to anyone, as the single shaft that drives the turbine and water pump was damaged, and they didn't think I could get even $200 for it.

On the good side, to warranty the work, they advised to replace the water pump although they said there was nothing wrong with the old water pump. So I do have a used water pump for an 03 Cooper S for sale if anyone is interested in this, please PM me. I will make my loss your gain.

Okay, just wanted to share the story with this group, as I've been lurking a lot and wanted to give back a little. Hopefully, this will help others if you hear a similar noise (get towed immediately, they make be able to repair the gears if they don't get shredded too bad), or have a similar experience. 48,000 mile on a supercharger? I am not a happy camper, but the car has been so awesome and I have loved it since Day 1 with no previous problems, so I consider myself a lucky owner of a great car.

 

Good luck with your car. I thnk you should have checked around for a used one first or sent yours out for rebuild. Good idea doing the w/pump while there. Hope it all worked out and your back on the road again.
Enjoy the new power.

 

Thanks, car is back and running well. I did do some scouting around but even a rebuild would have been tough. With the gears as bad as they were, and shavings everywhere, it would have been some time rebuilding, and time = $ for repairs. I was really hoping to get a brand new one for around $2000 from Europe, but the wait could be up to 3 weeks for it to ship. Plus, in Los Angeles, it's almost essential to have a vehicle.

 

 

About 50% of the companys that overhaul supercharged for the MINI include new water pump gears....some tack on an extra fee. You supercharger is stll rebuildable as long the gears in the snount/pulley side are ok, and it is not locked up. The problem you experanced is the entire jest of this thread....sorry about the bad luck. Good to hear you are back on the road.

 

Zippy,
Thanks for the info, I figured the supercharger didn't need to be scrapped completely, I may have been able to send it out and find a place that would do the rebuild, but my car was disassembled at the shop already. Kind of a tough break. Once I saw this thread I knew that's what had happened, I'm happy to share my misery with others so that similar problems can be identified.

Has anyone bought a supercharger (rebuilt) off of Ebay? I noticed they go for between $400-500 dollars, which is much less than $1600. I guess the penalty is unless you fit it yourself, independent shops may not touch it and they're certainly not going to warranty it...

Any info on the used superchargers (many coming from a single shop in Florida)?

 

Although the S/C is a wear/tear item, failing anywhere before 100k mile is a joke (IMO). A S/C normally doesn't spin as fast as a turbocharger and it doesn't have similar heat issues either. In the VW circle, the turbocharging in gas and diesel engines has a very low failure rate assuming proper synthetic oil is used, maintained and changed on a regular basis. My 1.8T is chipped to 1.0 BAR for the last 116k of 166k and it spools to 150,000-200,000 RPM daily.

If what you're saying is true (that Eaton recommends oil changes every 50k), then Mini/BMW purposely misled us with this "lifetime" lube nonsense. And I can see why they did it... 9hrs of labor is a steep expense and that would make any potential customer rethink about buying a MCS.

 

First, did you find out where the oil went? Did it leak to the outside or into the rotors? And I wonder if it's a good idea to make a gasket to better seal the two surfaces.

Second, are you saying Eaton no longer produces/supplies this S/C? I could wrong but isn't there a law that car makers must make new replacement parts available for 15 yrs from the car's date of production. (Heck, I can still find a lot of parts for my 23 yr old Porsche from the dealer.) If it's true there's no new S/Cs left in N.America and only 660 remain in Europe, I'll be tearing a few S/C from fellow local MCS owners.

 

Really? I'm curious where this information came from...

Thanks for sharing your experience ...

 

Don't feel like going through all these pages, but is 't there a PITA way to check/change the oil in the supercharger?

 

nope.
A few people have proposed drilling a hole, refilling the oil, then closing it. Since this would only work on the pulley side gears, it does not seem worth the effort or the chances of contamnating the oil/gears with tiny metal particles that would surely shorten the units life.
Most people have come to the conclusion that if you pull the unit to check the oil, then you should just swap it out, start fresh, and get back on the road. The main problem is, if you service the oil, and the water pump gears were low in their oil level, a rebild is likely needed if there is any wear as any metal pieces will ging the gears up, resulting in a failure anyway. So if you are gonna have a spare so you can do the job in one day, just swap it IMO makes the most sense.

 

lifetime lube IMO just means the installed lube will ensure relilable opperation as long an the warrenty or any extended warrenty the oem will sell you lasts!! Think about it....planned obselencence.

My TRD (toyoda racing devolpment eaton m-45) Tacoma had a 5 year lube requirement, as do Buick and pontatic products. Only was a 3 h&r job at most though....

 

Super Charger Tech in Old Town, FL rebuilds Mini Super Chargers including replacement of the PTO gears for $550.00. Two year warranty with no mileage limit. Recomend them Highly. 352/542-0147

 

Jon at the M shop (he's posted here) informed me that he logged into the database and there are currently no brand new Mini superchargers, at least at dealerships. Basically, I was willing to pay more to get one of these rather than a refurbished one, but he said that the ones coming from the dealerships now are all refurbished units. There are brand new ones (i think the exact number was 666 still available at dealers in Europe. Not sure about the law on keeping new parts, but that's the information I was given. So when you drop over $1600 on a supercharger at the dealer, you are not getting a brand new unit.

Thanks for the Florida supercharger tip, I have seen these units on Ebay, and was curious given the MUCH lower price. In my case, my car was already disassembled at the shop, so bidding and shipping a supercharger would have been more down time than would be appropriate, but certainly if this ever happens again, I might attempt the swap on my own.

 

They are also a vendor.....but their site has been down for a few weeks, and they seem to not be active anymore here.

EDIT------They were a vendor for a VERY short time....
I strongly recommend anybody thinking about using this company proceed with caution. One of our vendors, that I respectly HIGHLY has had to replace several superchargers from this company in just a couple of months, and he no longer will deal with them....considers them JUNK.

 

I am going to give Supercharger tech a call tomorrow, as I have a sound coming from mine I believe, I dont here it at idle or when I rev the engine, but when there is a load on it I can here what sounds like a ball in a can of spray paint, Temps are still fine as is the oil level, but before this thing blows up I think I am going to have it done as I have 69K on it now. I may also ask the guys at Helix and see if they willl do it

 

Best description I have heard of the sound is it sounds like chains rattling at idle, and a few screaches/high pitch buzzing. There a a few vids on this threads with good audio....it is pretty distincive.

 

Chains rattling at idle is pretty good description, I never had the high pitch noises. Honestly, it's a similar sound to a loud tappet/low oil sound early on, so check the dipstick level first. If you have oil topped off and you still hear a louder noise, shut her down ASAP.

 

they are no longer a vendor on NAM and were for a very short time. Be sure to ask them about how they replace the bearing and seal between the rotor pack and PTO

 

Most any MINI Dealer can get a NEW SC about $2200 however most need to order it from BMW and it takes a few weeks to get here. Also many MINI USA Dealers offer a "rebuilt" for about $1600.00. However in talking to many of the Dealers no one can say how they are rebuilt or if the weak link in the SC was addressed. I have talked to Eaton and Eaton is not rebuilding them for BMW and don't know who is. Also note Eaton is not making new M45 or replacement parts for the M45 so at some point the new in box will be gone and we will all rely on a re-builder.

 

That's fine if the manufacturers want to stretch the meaning of the word "lifetime" but Mini should have indicated a service/inspection schedule in the Owner/Service Manual somewhere at 4-5yrs or 50k.

Like many car makers now, VW also says that their Automatic transmissions (excluding DSG) has "lifetime" fluid and do not require changing but does have a oil level inspection at regular intervals. Those who bought into the "last forever" fluid eventually had serious trans problems around 90-130k. Those who've changed the fluid/filter regularly have seen 200-230k before signs of old age begin to appear.

 

If you have the tools, removing the belt and run the engine. Then run the engine with the belt back on. If the difference is a rattling noise, more likely it's coming from the S/C.

The Check Engine Light may come on. You need a scanner to clear the codes.