k-huevo,

You stated that you could drain the rear end lube from the SC without removing the water pump... may I assume that this is only possilble when you remove the front of the car like your pics?

Is this anyway possible (and still leave the pump on) with the front of the car still left on?

If all I wanted to do was drain (or suck out) the lube, and put new lube in (with a tube, baster, pump, gravity, whatever) what is your recommendation for the rear end?

thanks for your real world pictures and advice.

YD

 

It is possible, but, the supercharger intake duct and throttle body would have to be removed, and it would require experienced small arms & hands (it is a blind location), and you would need some luck the fill plug was not excessively tightened or the allen slot not wallowed-out, also the coolant hoses pose some obstruction via top access.

This is speculation on my part but I think the water pump drive would be a one time drain & fill for peace of mind. There are many other maintenance tasks that can be accomplished with the front end off so consolidating efforts will make it more worthwhile to approach a fluid change this way. I think the nose gear fluid change interval should be about the same as for transmission fluid, certainly not lifetime as BMW suggests, but based on environment and usage. Take the time to perform a visual inspection inside the reservoirs and run a magnet through the old fluid to see if any damage has already occurred.

Here are some tips for anyone pulling the supercharger and water pump; because the dip-stick pipe has to be removed, be sure to plug the exposed hole before pulling the water pump from the case. Replace the water pump O-ring and supercharger intake duct gaskets, and disconnect the battery in the boot before doing anything. Clean the supercharger case so if a fluid leak occurs later it will be noticeable; the damaged gears I showed in post #41 had tale tell signs of a leak on the SC at the gear case seam.

 

k-huevo, thanks for your post. Is it your opinion that the SC gears usually go dry from gasket leaks, or lube going through the seals?

YD

 

Anytime!

Chad

 

Has anyone tried replacing the mechanical w/p with an electric one? This would seem to make a lot of sense to me, seeing as it doesn't involved removal or replacement of the s/c, it would free up more rotating mass, and would seem to add al ittle bit of reliability.

 

It would also give you access to the rear SC drain plug.

YD

 

Would anybody be cool / kind enough to video tape an MCS at idle to hear what the rattle sounds like?

 

I think the bigger point here is not to figure out how to modify the cooling system to make this more accessible, but just to be able to check it occasionally. I mean, some people could do it and be happy, but most will not. MINI has actually said, and I beleive it is in their tech books, that the life expectancy of the M45 is 100,000 miles (read, more or less). I don't buy this any more than any of you do. We all know that preventive maintenance is the key to the longevity of any mechanical device. I have said it before that I believe the oil is being drawn into the suction side of the seal, not leaked externally, so the key would be an occasional top-off. A complete oil change is not really needed, because you don't have any by-product contamination here. With the intake plenum (the plastic chamber between the throttle and s/c) removed, you can actually get a long allen socket past the water pump the remove the fill plug. The rear gear case can then be filled using a syringe with a hose until it overflows. While this is easy work for some of us, I think it will take pro-active measures on the part of the techs to make sure the majority of these units survive past their intended life-span. Certainly a worthwhile service to offer.
I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this thread (4 pages with no banter, WOW)
YD, any criticism you have received for your idea, I'm sure, is out of a lack of creativity to come up with a better solution. I like it, but it does not have to be that complicated. The oil just needs to be topped off once in a while.

Cheers,
--Dan

 

Ive seen a couple intercoolers SOAKED in what looked like gear oil, almost clear... definatly not engine oil and did not think that it could have been the supercharger rotor seals leaking. Now that you mention this its definatly the rotor seals. Not that common and definatly no noise yet, I remember one at around 15,000km with a SOAKED Intercooler

 

Dan (Grassroots), thanks for your support for the idea that these two gear sets need to be topped off and not allowed to run dry. Sometime in the next year, I plan to figure out a way to add lube periodically. I'm sure the first time (modding and installing whatever I come up with) will be the most time consuming, but after that, my plan is for it to be easy.

I like your idea of removing the rear plug while leaving the water pump in place. I'm also thinking of drilling and tapping a new hole in the top of the rear gearcase to:

Suck out old oil if you want
Add new oil if you want
Use a dipstick to check level

This would as you state require the removal of the IC periodically, but that would be a fair trade off for the peace of mind that my SC had lube.

Thanks again for your support...

YD

 

make sure you include a way to check level. Remember this sucker is turning much faster than the crank speed, and you will eat HP if over full.

Bet remember, even if you do make it so that you can make sure the oil is good, it's not going to eliminate bearing wear and the like. For an arbitrary long lifetime for the SC you'll have to pull it and have it rebuilt. When is a good question though.

Matt

 

i've read the whole thread, and think it hasn't been asked yet...

Has anyone had this problem with the SC that Has not installed a reduced pulley?

 

YES... I have already replaced 2 and I am aware of others that have been replaced by the dealer under warranty. I do think that a smaller pulley will let it happen sooner, but there are no guarantees.
--Dan

 

some have died that were unmodified. Seem they go pretty fast or not for a long, long time.

Matt

 

My non-mod died at 119k

 

Thanks for the quick responses guys! The MINI SA and Tech are both trying to blame my reduced pulley for the gear failure. I told 'em that idea was BS. Now I "personally" know of a few Non-modded SCs that failed.

 

As stated earlier, mine failed at about 16K; unmodified; replaced under warranty.

 

Hello -

Well I recently had the Supercharger fail recently in the way most ofthers have had.... It took out the waterpump and overheated the engine. Now after picking it up only 5 days ago it heated up again. The mechanic stated that it was a head gasket which was thousands of dollars to replace... MAybe that included the head also due to warpage?

I just had to spend $2200 for the supercharger (rebuilt) and $800 for the waterpump etc....

I am really disgusted with the mini lately.. Only 64,000 miles on the 2003 car...

My wife wants to get rid of the car due to all of the problems and does not even want to spend the thousands to fix the head.. Actually this amount sounds like a lot....

 

Most of this discussion has been about the water pump output gears but I changed the oil in a fairly low mileage JCW supercharger and found black colored debris in the nose gear fluid. Not to fuel any paranoia but I wonder if it might be a good idea to address maintenance very early and change the oil as an “after break in” maintenance task.

I’m getting off topic in the failure department here but since we are talking about water pump gears, a reduced water pump out put drive gear ratio is often cited as one of the JCW supercharger advantages. I debunked that marketing myth three years ago by doing a side by side comparison at the parts counter. I had an opportunity to perform a more thorough test and found the similarity still valid. Page flags were used to mark the beginning points for the drive pulleys and water pump out put keys. The drive pulleys were rotated 120 times while the out put keys were observed at 20 rotation intervals; given the JCW pulley is an 11% reduction from stock, this would be an adequate number of turns to see any difference in the end points. As can be seen in the photo the ratios are identical.

 

If you're out of warranty then going to the dealer is the FASTEST way to empty your wallet!

What can you sell the car for with a blown head gasket? 5k-7k?

To fix the head gasket, it takes a gasket kit (head and other gaskets) and a head (if yours is warped to far to be machined flat). You can put a worked-over head on the car for less than Mini is quoting you.....

Sorry you did the dealer route for the SC, you could have bought a used core and either bolted that up, or gotten it rebuilt for a couple hundred $......

Matt

 

I modded A Supercharger a while back, I will look for the pictures.
Basically removed the S/C,took off the water pump and romoved the rear cover cleaned it out ( it was dry!!) drilled and tapped a hole in the top.
refilled it with GM supercharger oil and installed a plug, now all that has to be done to add oil is remove the intercooler to get at the plug on top of the supercharger.
IMHO it works pretty good.

 

Okay, lets say that I want to converto to an electric water pump (and I do). If I remove the pump and make a block-off plate, would I still need oil; what I am trying to get at is the lube in the rear of the supercharger only for the water pump gears?

Thanks

Frodo

 

Eddie, you are 'da man', what you did is exactly what I have been planning on doing soon. I refuse to let the front or rear oil chamber go dry and eat my wallet when a little PM and some mods will let you check it and maintain it easily.

I would like to PM you about your experience.

YD

 

This was not a dealer but a repair shop.... We found that a new supercharger from the dealer would be about $2K. But we found this used one (rebuilt) for about $1400. So by the the time I bought the SC and water pump and coolant and thermostat and labor it was about $2200.

Then 5 days later it overheated again. Now it might be just a blown head gasket or a cracked head. The head will be removed and then x-rayed... I am told that the labor for a head gasket is 9 hours... so head gasket at about $100 and labor (@$90 /hr) will run me another $1200.

My wife is not too happy and wants to sell the car.. Do I still trust it after all of this? Hopefully the head will not be cracked since it will be much more at that point.

 

I'd be interested in the pictures too, thanks