Funny question - Supercharger Failure?

I had a guy come up to me today and ask if my supercharger still worked. I laughed and said ya and he says he had a riv but the S/C quit working. Can they just stop working? I thought because it was driven by belt that it is always working. Am I just confused??

I've had the Boost Control Solenoid quit, which in my case left me with a max of 2 PSI boost. Seemed like the SC just wasn't SC'ing anymore. or a belt could get thrown, or perhaps the bypass valve was stuck open...

It is possible the blower can fail, but this almost never happens (at least we've never seen it). The roots blower is a simple machine, and one of the most durable parts of our engines. In almost all cases, the blower will give some warning signs before it ultimately fails.

There a few ways the blower could "stop working":

1) The plastic coupler in the snout could fracture after a couple hundred thousand miles. Prior to this, the engine bay would make a "rattling marbles" sound for several thousand miles. If the coupler broke, the SC pulley would continue to spin, but not drive the internal rotors (no boost). This can be fixed with a $35 part and about 2-3 hours work for a beginner.

2) The belt can break or slip off if neglected (the belt should probably be replaced by 50k miles). In a Series I ('95 Riv), this would cause the car to become inoperable, but in Series II 3800 engines ('96-99 Rivs) the blower is on a separate serpentine (SC) belt, so the engine will continue to run normally without the SC belt, and the blower would not turn. Another common reason for this problem might be a failed idler or tensioner pulley. Cost for repair would about $25 for the belt, and between $10-30 for the pulleys, 2-5 hours to replace for the average person.

3) Worst case scenario, the bearings in the blower snout failed due to lack of oiling or some other problem related to extreme wear. I have never heard of this, and would not expect to see it happen for at least 200-300k miles. When it happens, I'd guess there would be quite a racket under the hood, or you would end up in situation #1 or #2 above, as the blower totally seizing up would probably result in the belt slipping off or the coupler giving way.

If the person you spoke to had problem #1, the blower probably served them well for a long time, and could easily have it fixed for very little time and cost. If problem #2, the owner neglected having belts & pulleys inspected or replaced. Even so, repair would not be very much. If problem #3, the car probably had well over 250k miles, and even then I would consider it unusual for the blower to fail.

I think the person you talked you "thought" their blower stopped working, but it likely was something else, probably a minor issue.

Tank wrote:

I had a guy come up to me today and ask if my supercharger still worked. I laughed and said ya and he says he had a riv but the S/C quit working. Can they just stop working? I thought because it was driven by belt that it is always working. Am I just confused??

You're not the one who's confused. Only way to check on that "my sc quit" is to see the car. Do you think he was actually asking you to look at it, in an indirect way?

Or do you think that something else is probably wrong. Or he was just talking (sold the car or whatever).

As a practical matter I'd stay out of other people's stuff because it gets in the way of getting to the things that are in fact my responsibility. Just the same, with Aaron's list it would not take long to figure out.

What did you do?

Albertj

Thanx guys. I had a feeling something else was wrong with the car. I usually try to research something before I give a complete answer..but I said \"well they usually don\'t quit working, maybe you just think so because a loss of power\". He says that\'s what a tech told him, I just left it at that lol.

albertj wrote:

A friend or acquaintance, in that case I'd probably ask if he'd want me to take a quick look at it -- sometimes people ask for help in very indirect ways.

What did you do?

Albertj

He said the guy 'had' the car, as in past tense. Sad that people will let a car go over something that could be so simple, but it happens. Some people are just looking for an excuse to get something newer, which I can understand.

deekster_caddy wrote:

albertj wrote:

A friend or acquaintance, in that case I'd probably ask if he'd want me to take a quick look at it -- sometimes people ask for help in very indirect ways.

What did you do?

Albertj

He said the guy 'had' the car, as in past tense. Sad that people will let a car go over something that could be so simple, but it happens. Some people are just looking for an excuse to get something newer, which I can understand.

In the aggregate, personal incomes are going down and cars are not really getting any cheaper. I suspect that people, in general, will have to rethink their excuses becasue as a practical matter they won't be able to afford to act on them.

Another thing I notice, howeve, is that there are some lines of work where the pay is not going down. I suspect the USA is economically headed for having a middle class with tiers that are even more distinct than in the recent past.

Albertj

AA wrote:

If the coupler broke, the SC pulley would continue to spin, but not drive the internal rotors (no boost).

if you assemble a blower with no coupler you will find that the metal pins actually still collide with each other, and turning the pulley still results in the rotors turning. Its nit-picking, i know, since I would classify a broken coupler as a blower failure for sure(since the bits would get into the gear-set), but in that event I really doubt that you would find the pulley turning nicely with the rotors not turning.

So the arrows, so to speak, are pointing toward a cheap fix.

Maybe the tech who said the SC was blown wanted the car (just kidding) and figures here's he chance to psyche someone out of one.

Naah, never happens.

Albertj

Quote :

if you assemble a blower with no coupler you will find that the metal pins actually still collide with each other, and turning the pulley still results in the rotors turning.

That's a good point, and I didn't know that. Never checked the clearance of the pins!

Ya whoever got the car got a treat im shur it ended up going for $1000. Though I paid $1500 for mine..it needs some body work though..and some other bugs lol.