New to this forum...not new to Buicks :)

Hello everyone.

My name is Stewart.

I am a huge Buick fan.

I own a 1999 Riviera, 2002 Century, and a 1994 Roadmaster. The Roadmaster is pretty heavily modified, and after twelve years of daily driving, it now only goes to car shows, cruise-ins, and sunny day outings.

The Riviera has been my daughters car until yesterday. I now have it. It is dark blue metallic with blue leather interior, and has 88K on it. It has factory chrome wheels. In the last several months, we have replaced the radiator, brake rotors, brake calipers, brake pads, battery, tires, etc. It died two weeks ago, and the diagnosis is a bad supercharger.

So....

I am deciding what to do with the Rivi. Having the mechanic fix it is out of the question. I'll do it myself. I see several vendors on eBay who rebuild superchargers, and it looks like that's what I'll most likely do.

My daughter is a college student, and the Rivi has needed so much TLC, that we bought her the 2002 Century yesterday. Nice car with 50K.

The Rivi also needs to have the AC and driver's window repaired. I think it's the switch, but it may be the window motor. I have no idea on the AC.

Anyway, I guess I will be spending a lot of time here with you guys, and asking for your advice and doing a lot of searching.

Wish me luck on the repairs. My wife and daughter want this car to go away, but I cannot bring myself to do that.

I think this car deserves a second chance.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Stewart

p.s. If you want to see what I have done to my Roadmaster, check my cardomain page:

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/732699/1

I'm always interested in hearing feedback from Buick people

welcome! it is rare that a supercharger "goes bad". especially with only 88k on it. it is likely that just the coupler is loose and need to be replaced.
i can see a college girl not wanting a buick, but the riv is way better than the century IMO. loads faster for sure. maybe if you modify it your wife and daughter will come around and love it again.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I have never heard of a SC going bad at 88K either.

Would the coupler failing resemble a total SC failure to a technician?

I have read about replacing the coupler. Maybe I'll order one and see.


IMHO the Rivi is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than the Century. The Century is OK. But the Rivi is just plain cool. I love this car!!!

My daughter has four more years to go in college, and she just doesn't want to deal with a car that has a bunch of issues.

That's OK with me. This way, I get to fix it, and keep it for myself

Stewart

RoadMonster wrote:

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Would the coupler failing resemble a total SC failure to a technician?

to some yes. many mechanics never work on superchargers. even the buick dealerships response to a worn coupler is "replace the entire unit" you cant go to the dealership and order a snout or housing, they have the entire s/c unit only.
what are the symptoms of yours?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The symptoms:

1) noise from the SC. My guess would be the coupler.

2) the car dies. It will start, but then will die after a block or two. Then, it won't start for hours to overnight.

3) No codes.

4) Fuel pressure is fine.

5) Mechanic could not find anything else wrong.

The mechanic diagnosed it as "supercharger failure".
States that there are no stored codes in the PCM. Noted the noise.

I think the coupler is bad, I'm just not sure if the SC has any damage other than the worn / broken coupler.

That's what I know at the moment.


I guess my plan would be to replace the coupler (and belts while I'm at it) and see.

What do you think of the guy who rebuilds SC's on eBay for $220.00?

Seems like his feedback rating is OK.

For that price, I might just replace it, and save myself some labor.

Stewart

even with the belt off and the s/c not turning, the car will still run quite fine. slow, but fine.
have you checked the oil level in the s/c?
you could have a bad CKP sensor too. that would explain the stalling and no start. the pcm has a hard time finding a code when it stalls out. you almost have to be scanning parameters when it stalls to see what happed.
you can buy a new s/c for pretty cheap. there isnt much to rebuild. couple bearing, the coupler, and a seal. they are not mechanically complicated, which is why they rarely fail.
...unless the rotors see N20 and flame . theres is a great video of a cobra on the dyno spraying a 200 shot, and kaboom! M112 housing everywhere.

CKP sensor?

Oil in the SC is low. Probably just order one off of eBay.

Thanks for all the help!

Stewart

Welcome! Nice to see a fellow Riv AND B body owner! I checked out your Roadmaster...excellent work, classy and mean looking. Way to go on that! I happen to own a 95 Riv supercharged with the same issues as your having minus the stalling. But there is a noise and Buick wants to replace the entire unit...for 2500! Oh yeah and my B Body is a 79 Olds Delta 88 with a Rocket 350...and i plan on doing what you did with you Roadmaster, but instead of GS...I'm making mine the 442 that never was....look forward to pics of you Riv.

I'm with Mr. Riviera, not entirely buying the faulty SC as the problem. Your symptoms do not point in that direction. Here's what I'd do:

Remove the SC belt from all pulleys. You can't get it off the motor mount bracket, but you can tie it off to the side and drive the car around. I've don this for days with no problems. If the car has problems with the belt off, your blower is fine.

In 4 years of owning, modding, and discussing M90-powered cars, I can't remember of even one blower failure. It's almost always something else. You could be the first, but hope that's not the case.

Thanks for the help guys.

At this point, I have the car parked on my RV pad on the side of the house.


I'm going to buy a scan tool, with the live data feature and see what I can find out when I get the car running.

It usually will only start after it has sat over night. Once it has run for a few minutes, and if you turn it off, that's it....until the next day.


I still don't know what the CKP sensor is.

I have a mechanic friend who thought maybe that I had a problem with the coil(s).

Again, thanks for the help.

I'll post my progress here.

(and thanks for moving the thread to the right place )

Stewart

Guys,

Any suggestions for an OBD1 and OBD2 scan tool?

I won't be doing any tuning. I use Bryan Herter at pcmforless.com for the B Body.

Any of you use an Auto X-Ray?

Stewart

Scanner info:

https://rivperformance.editboard.com/series-ii-scans-tuning-pcm-f5/scan-tool-purchase-advice-auto-x-ray-ez-scan-6000-t1740.htm#18501

CKP= crankshaft postion sensor. lots of different symptoms. the sensor is know to be temperature sensitive too. mine would mis at ~185* and not crank till she cooled off. sometimes sets codes, but more often than not it happens too quick for the pcm to catch it. also the "trac off" light will usualy go ON when it misreads and the car keeps running.

I think it's CKPS depending on who you ask.

I'd agree that this sounds suspiciously like a cam or crank sensor, NOT the supercharger. These cars will run fine with the SC belt off, so tie it out of the way as was recommended before and see if you still have problems. It will just be slower than normal, but otherwise just fine.

Hey Stewart. I like the Roadmonster. You were actually my inspiration when I bought my '95 Roadmaster. Sadly, I traded it in for my Jeep. I kinda miss it.

Good luck on keeping the Riv.

Thanks for all the help guys.

I have spent four years learning about B Bodys & LT1's. I'm no expert, but I know enough to keep the RM alive and do my own mods and stuff.

I remember when I got the RM, I started doing the wrong mods, in the wrong order, etc. Took a while to learn about these cars. What to do, but most importantly what NOT to do.


I don't really know anything about this Rivi. Since it seems that most mechanics don't really know about these cars, I really need your help to get it back on the road.

Thanks for all of the help!

I appreciate it.


I ordered a scan tool yesterday.

Once I get it, I'll try it and see if I can find out why the car won't run right.

Stewart

Hi Stewart. Nice to see that you have made the leap from impalassforum to the riviera forum.

Unfortunately, I'm sure you'll soon find out that you can't just R&R the belts while doing the coupler. You will save absolutely no time, as you will still have to deal with the engine mount that hinders the removal of the belts. Changing them is a 3 hour job if you follow the write-up on this site (it might take you a bit more the first time).

As the other guys said, don't change the whole S/C. If you do change the coupler, make sure to drain as much of the s/c oil you can out of the s/c. I like to use a soap pump top, but a lot of people use syringes or turkey basters. Changing the coupler is very easy.

Hi Jason,

And "thanks!".


Should have a scan tool on Monday.

We'll see what is says...

I have several threads saved regarding the coupler and belt replacement.
Belt replacement looks like a PITA, but with this info, shouldn't be too bad.

It will be interesting to find out what really is the problem with this car...

Stewart

Good news is, my last set of belts lasted 90k, so at least you don't need to change them often. Good luck finding the problem!