New Coupler? More Problems...

Hello all,

First let me say, this site is awesome and incredibly helpful. Thanks to all the posters for making me feel welcome. This is my 99 Silver Arrow. You may have seen the pictures in the showroom threads. Love the riv and Buick, as my second car throughout college was a 85 Buick Electra. But, I think I need some help with the riv.

There is a clicking noise coming supercharger (I think) and I believe it may be the coupler, but am unsure. Even though I'm no expert, I plan on doing the work myself, so I want to make sure the diagnosis is correct. Here is a video, my apologies on the sound quality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkypU_Q3dLM

Additionally, I had a mechanic change the intake manifold gaskets, the valve cover gaskets and oil pan. Problem is, I still smell oil. I also snapped a few pics of the right side of the engine where there appears to be a buildup of oil and gunk. Is this shoddy work? There have been no leaks, but the sight of all that gunk and oil is worrisome.





What do you guys think??

How long ago was the work done? Was the engine cleaned? If not, it will take a while to burn off the oil accumulation from before the job. One of the best ways to locate a leak is to thoroughly clean the area and observe for new accumulation over a hundred miles or so.

AA wrote:

How long ago was the work done? Was the engine cleaned? If not, it will take a while to burn off the oil accumulation from before the job. One of the best ways to locate a leak is to thoroughly clean the area and observe for new accumulation over a hundred miles or so.

Work was done last week and I thought the engine was cleaned, but I could be wrong about that. Degreaser and brush should clean the area, right?

Any ideas about the video/coupler?

That sounds like a bad coupler to me. Easy way to tell if it is shot is to take the SC belt off and turn the SC pulley by hand. If there is play (ie: turning it a bit before it catches) the coupler isn't good. The holes in the existing coupler probably have become oblong which allows for the play (they are supposed to be circles). Eventually they all go but are inexpensive to replace. I'm going to do mine in the coming weeks too.

I agree with Aaron about the oil you are seeing. I doubt whoever replaced your gaskets did a full engine bay degreasing. You can use some simple green or another type of engine degreaser a few times and get everything clean and then keep an eye on things to see where the oil is coming from now. A VC gasket bolt may have to be re-torqued very slightly. If you are smelling oil, it has to be leaking and burning off on a hot piece under hood (probably exhaust manifold).

HTH

Agreed on the oil mess. That looks like old oil, and it's also in the exact spots that the LIM leaks from. I'd spray it with degreaser, drive to the nearest car wash, and power wash that shit off. This way, you have no mess to clean out of your driveway

Consider taking a bottle of degreaser (Purple Power, Simple Green, GUNK Engine Brite, what have you) and a cheapie toilet brush to a DIY car wash. At that car wash then degrease the engine bay using that brush to scrub the grime and power wash it off. Reason: If you use the degreaser and then have to drive a long way to the car wash, the grime bakes on. Be sure to respect the posted signs at the car wash about washing engines. Some of these car washes are in rural areas and the drains don't handle grease well - so they say not to wash your engine there. It's not because they are prissy, it's usually because they can't really handle the sludge.

OK. Now that I've been driving the car for a few weeks, I can describe some of the problems the car seems to suffering.

If you watch the above video, the car is in drive. That noise, which I believe is coming from the coupler (took the belt off, it does have slight movement) occurs the most, idling, in drive or reverse. Just by doing a search, I see the most responses to supercharger issues have been the coupler, although, I'm worried it could be a bearing. The noises seems to be getting louder.

Additionally, there is almost a numbing vibration from the car from 70-74 mph, 60-69, none, 76+, none. A slightly lesser vibration/noise occurs from 40-45. The mechanic attributed this to a wheel hub, but I am doubtful. I noticed that when I am making turns going 30-45, the car loses power, almost dropping gears. The only way to break out of this "drop" is to really throttle the gas.

It seems to be happening sometimes going straight from 40-50 as well, unless I punch the pedal, which really makes the car move. I don't feel it losing or dropping gears, but it feels like it lulls down, sluggish even.

When in parallel parking, u-turns, etc, the power steering occasionally struggles to the left or right. Not sure if this is related to the turning or loss of power, but....

Have you changed the fuel filter and checked fuel pressure at idle and at RPM.?

The NAPA Gold filter is about $12.00 and a decent fuel pressure gauge from Advanced Auto or even sears is about $29.99. Worth having the pressure gauge in the tool box if you don't already have one.

99SilverArrow wrote:

OK. Now that I've been driving the car for a few weeks, I can describe some of the problems the car seems to suffering.

If you watch the above video, the car is in drive. That noise, which I believe is coming from the coupler (took the belt off, it does have slight movement) occurs the most, idling, in drive or reverse. Just by doing a search, I see the most responses to supercharger issues have been the coupler, although, I'm worried it could be a bearing. The noises seems to be getting louder.

Additionally, there is almost a numbing vibration from the car from 70-74 mph, 60-69, none, 76+, none. A slightly lesser vibration/noise occurs from 40-45. The mechanic attributed this to a wheel hub, but I am doubtful. I noticed that when I am making turns going 30-45, the car loses power, almost dropping gears. The only way to break out of this "drop" is to really throttle the gas.

It seems to be happening sometimes going straight from 40-50 as well, unless I punch the pedal, which really makes the car move. I don't feel it losing or dropping gears, but it feels like it lulls down, sluggish even.

When in parallel parking, u-turns, etc, the power steering occasionally struggles to the left or right. Not sure if this is related to the turning or loss of power, but....

Q: How do you eat an elephant?

A: One bite at a time.

You suspect you have a number of problems. You already ascertained the coupler problem.... so fix it. There is a write up on this site and you can get the parts from RockAuto.Com or darossillc.com. DaRossi sells a complete kit, I used it, works just fine.

As for the wheel hubs if you have more than say 80,000 miles... maybe. GM dealers have a NVH diagnosis kit that helps isolate problems like this pretty well. Turns out that for a given speed, the source of a vibration can be isolated. For instance, the suspension is known to have some nasty harmonics at highway speeds depending on the distance between pavement seams on concrete highways. At the dealer you'll see a sign about "posted labor rate." For that price (probably between $65 and $100 an hour dep on where you live and what dealer) you should be able to talk the service advisor into having a mechanic spend an hour with the NVH kit and diagnose the noise. The can narrow it down pretty well and then depending on the noise source many of them you can fix yourself.

the other thing to do is visually inspect the CV joints, if you need help on how post again.

Albertj

Albert has taken the words out of my mouth, er, brain lol. I was also thinking CV joints (front axles) while reading your "turning" concern. They can also cause some funny noises/vibrations at certain speeds.

I do have a new question. When the intake manifold and valve cover gaskets are replaced, with the supercharger out of the car during the replacement process, would the supercharger leak oil?

no. the oil is sealed within the rotor housing.

...but, if it was tipped with the snout down, then it *can* often leak past the snout seal... which won't mean the snout seal is no good, just aged a bit... sometimes even new ones leak...

when in normal orientation, no oil really rests against the inside side of the snout seal...

??? mines does almost the same thing but only makes the same noise yours makes when i turn the car off so i should replace the coupler then?

Jayrydingslab wrote:

??? mines does almost the same thing but only makes the same noise yours makes when i turn the car off so i should replace the coupler then?

Before you buy anything, remove the S/C belt and turn the S/C pulley back and forth by hand. If it "clunks", the coupler is bad. It shouldn't make any clunking whatsoever. Even a slight "clunk" means the coupler is wearing, and will soon get much noisier.

Mine made a clunk when I turned the car off. Almost startling. You should have seen the holes where the tabs go into the coupler. Instead of being perfect circles like "o" they were more like "0". They had turned into ovals which allowed for the play and all that noise. Like Scott said, if you turn the pulley and feel the slightest play before the pulley catches, you should replace the coupler. It's really easy. The worst part is the smell of SC oil when you are removing it.

DEMonte1997 wrote:

The worst part is the smell of SC oil when you are removing it.

Yeah, old S/C oil smells like a fish's foot....if a fish had feet

Good call. I wanted to say it smells like a foot that had bad gas but I like your analogy better.

I still say rotten cheddar cheese - in an army boot, worn by a fish...

Abaddon wrote:

DEMonte1997 wrote:

The worst part is the smell of SC oil when you are removing it.

Yeah, old S/C oil smells like a fish's foot....if a fish had feet

if I am not mistaken it is whale oil

Albertj

albertj wrote:

[if I am not mistaken it is whale oil

Albertj

You are correct sir!