I went with Stiegemeier for the rebuild. One year later, it is running fine and no issues.

I had them do a their complete package which includes port and polishing as well as rebuild of the gears. The sound is awesome now.

 

Cool, I just had Pete at Greasy's listen to mine, he says it sounds fine, I am still going to have him pull it and check the oil and gears out and then decide where to go from there. Usually I am if it ain't broke, don't mess with it, but I plan to keep this car for 3 years or so or longer. So if it has all the oil and it relatively looks good, I am still on the fence to replace it or not since sometimes messing with things causes leaks ...

 

So I just got an update, I decided to do their service and the side of the supercharger that is for the water pump is empty. It wasn't dry, and there gears were in good shape, so it looks like I caught it in time to be cleaned up, re-sealed and oiled.

 

Sorry if I missed this in earlier pages, but I'm pretty spooked by this S/C water pump PTO failure. I've got an '05 MCS with just under 70k (I know mileage seems to have little bearing on this problem) purchased just a week ago. There is a rattle-y type of sound in the front drivers side area sometimes, but upon warming, I never hear it. Is this indicative of an on-coming failure or something else? It's been very cold here so I don't have a temperature issue, but I don't want to let this go until spring then get bit.

 

If it is marbles in a can sound, that is bad, but since it goes away on warm up, sounds like something else. There is a youtube vid in the thread with the sound.

Personally I think this should be a sticky, as when I was researching what to buy I missed this one completely. All cars I ever had with superchargers lasted well into the 200k range. Maybe this is why mini switched to turbos?

 

The position of the SC makes it laborious and expensive to service. I heard it's a full day's job so $1000 (or there about) is what it costs to drain & refill the oil... thus Mini specifically requires NO maintenance!!! On top of that, they attached the water pump at the butt end of the SC... this is the part that's first to go by a wide margin.

 

Greasy's service them for 800 bux and replace your water pump and other parts for that.

 

I read about this issue after buying my nearly pristine '04S with 55k miles on it and began looking for a spare supercharger to play with. Found a nearly new take off from a JCW conversion in England and got it for about $700. Appears virtually in new condition and I pulled both ends to inspect the gears. Removed about 1.5 oz of oil from the water pump end, around 4 oz from the snout. Also noticed that the layer of sealant on the bare aluminum surfaces was all but invisible, with only a slight red buildup just inside the bolt holes. As others have mentioned, the machined surface of the pump drive cover has pronounced machining marks on it, although I couldn't feel them with a fingernail.

I had hoped to figure out a way to fit a small dipstick tube/hose to each end plate to allow checking the oil while in place on the car. The snout would not be a problem since you can see the inspection plug easily but the pump end is buried under a ton of stuff and it's doesn't seem practical to try to engineer a dipstick/filler tube for this.

I've decided to reseal my new supercharger with Loctite 518 flange sealant (includes a primer) in order to ensure a proper seal on the bare aluminum surfaces. I'll add the supercharger oil to the correct level and figure I'm set to go. From my inspection, I think what is probably happening to cause the pump drive cavity to go dry is a seepage from the cover joint. With so little oil in there, a slow leak over years will drain the cavity. I've decided to swap out the supercharger every 60k miles when I change drive belts. This will give me a chance to inspect the original supercharger and have it serviced if need be. Bit of a pain to do but not much more effort than changing cam belts on Gen 2 Miata's every 60k.

Eric

 

I've read different specs on the amounts of oil for the front and rear... from 4-6 oz (front) to 2-4 oz (rear). It seems the rebuild shops tend to lean towards the 6 oz / 4 oz (front/rear). I wonder what is the correct spec from Eaton.

 

You just made me feel a little better about the 188k 05 mini s I just purchased.

 

I still think it is worth getting checked, what is a seized supercharger with an imploding impeller piece getting sucked into the engine gonna do if it it seizes at high RPMs?

Ok, worse case scenario, However I think a seized super charger is going to cause a lot more dammage when it goes rather than just rebuilding it or even cheaper, just changing the fluid and resealing.

 

I recently reassembled my nearly-new supercharger on the bench and found the forward nose took about 6 oz of oil and the rear power takeoff only took about 1.5 oz. This was with the supercharger blocked level on the bench and I added oil with a syringe and tube until it flowed back out the fill/level hole. I actually added a little more oil to the power takeoff side by tilting the supercharger on end a little. There is definitely very little oil in the back chamber compared to the front. My Loctite sealer has done a good job of sealing up the surfaces and I'm confident there won't be any external oil leaks when I fit the supercharger to the motor.

Eric

 

Yes that's what I found to be the approximate oil levels Eric.

Jeremy

 

You mean 6 oz for the front and 2 oz for the rear??

 

Yes Cadenza, but I put a little more(2.5oz) in the rear because the needle bearing for the PTO sits quite high. I figure couldn't hurt and would maybe keep the froth down a bit.

Jeremy

 

Thanks!

 

Hi all.

I have two MINI S. One a 2005 (my sons) and one a 2006 (mine). Both have about 45K-to 50K miles on them. I am a fairly experienced home machanic having rebuilt several Lotus cars. I have built 3 Caterhams and so I do have the skills but am a little nervous about doing this. I would like to do both of my cars this summer, checking the level of the front and rear resovoirs. Has someone written up a guide on how to do this? If they have and need a place to post it, I will put it up on my website, www.lotusowners.com. Or if you know where a write up is on doing this procedure is, let me know. Or is there is a service manual out there that lays this out, I am not aganist purchasing it.

Has someone also done a write up on modifying the supercharger resovoirs to check the oil without doing all this.

 

Bentley at Amazon

Thread by K-huevo: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...02-post71.html

I don't think anyone has modified the SC so that the fluid level can be checked.

 

I'll also add my .2 cents the direct link from wiki.bentleypublishers.

https://wiki.bentleypublishers.com/d...22612D12EBA937

I've got a a weepy coolant source up front - either the coolant temp sensor, leaky water pump o-rings or water pump itself and might have to do the same. Just too darn cold now, definitely will have wait until spring, 43,600 miles on my 2006 R53.

 

[quote=tvacc;3216061Has someone also done a write up on modifying the supercharger resovoirs to check the oil without doing all this.[/quote]

I bought a nearly new supercharger for my '04S to see if this was possible. Turns out the oil level plugs are a normal 7/16-20 thread size with an O-ring seal. I could make a tube with a banjo fitting for the front snout area since it's relatively easy to access but the rear chamber is all but impossible. Just too much stuff piled over that end of the supercharger.

I've resealed both ends with proper Loctite sealant, added the correct amount of new supercharger oil and will swap out superchargers at the next opportunity. Likely will fit a new water pump and O-rings while I'm in there. Depending on the condition on the present supercharger (just turned 60k) I'll either rebuild it myself or send it out for major overhaul.

I've pretty much given up on making fittings to allow for on-engine oil level checking at this time.

Eric

 

Thanks for the posts. Yes, I see the one link that shows the two pictures of the car disassembled. I guess what I am looking for is a more detailed idea of how to get to that point. Taking off the bumper. Do I have to remove the AC condenser? All the steps leading up to that point. I see that I will have to remove the radiator and intercooler. Is the AC condenser up there?

If someone that has done this can chime in and give me sort of a list. I dont have the tools to "break" the AC system. Is that necessary?

Cant we just drill some new holes in the resoviors? Make up a dip stick to check it. So we have to remove a few things to get at it, better than the whole front of the car.

 

No need to crack AC system to service supercharger and water pump. You can carefully rotate the whole modular front end out of the way once you get the bumper cover and bumper off(rad support, rad, and condenser).

Jeremy

 

Drilling holes is easy - the dipstick itself would require quite a bit of design and fabrication engineering: location (not just for access but to avoid both internal and external interference), 'calibration' for reliable measurements, planning prevention of it vibrating loose, sealing against leaks, etc., etc. (Yeah, I've given it some thought .)
I have a buddy that has a Whipple S/C in his Miata that has a dipstick for the snout; took a long, hard look at that for inspiration...

 

I've emailed them twice - never got a response. Maybe someone else will have better luck?

 

I just noticed a very similar sound in my 02 MCS. I'm really really annoyed if this is the issue. I've had the car 7 days purchased as my DD/reliable car. FML.

Glad it's documented though. Good job guys.

cheers

poorman