New Riv owner

Hey everyone my name is Matt about a month ago I bought a 1997 Riviera. When I was looking for a new car I was really interested in a roadmaster,but found this car down the road from.my house seen it was supercharged and had to buy it. About fifty miles after I bought it it spun a rod bearing so the Guy I bought it from took it back and rebuilt the bottom end. After that it's been problem after problem but I still have my love for it and wont give up. Current problems include, needs supercharger, fuel pump soon, injectors, tires, water pump, coil packs, windshield, exhaust, and then upgrades. I mainly joined this site to connect with other Riviera lovers, and to hopefully get some advice on my project/daily driver. Car has 125k not sure about the motor. And some how with all these problems the car is getting 25mpg average.

Welcome! with a little TLC and fixing the problems that pop up... its a great car! wish you many miles!

FERGI'S 97 SC RIV wrote:

Hey everyone my name is Matt about a month ago I bought a 1997 Riviera. When I was looking for a new car I was really interested in a roadmaster,but found this car down the road from.my house seen it was supercharged and had to buy it. About fifty miles after I bought it it spun a rod bearing so the Guy I bought it from took it back and rebuilt the bottom end. After that it's been problem after problem but I still have my love for it and wont give up. Current problems include, needs supercharger, fuel pump soon, injectors, tires, water pump, coil packs, windshield, exhaust, and then upgrades. I mainly joined this site to connect with other Riviera lovers, and to hopefully get some advice on my project/daily driver. Car has 125k not sure about the motor. And some how with all these problems the car is getting 25mpg average.

...it probably does not need a supercharger, probably just the coupler you are looking at $30-ish. You will need a pulley puller so you can get the snout off.

coil packs are easy but be sure to get the ones for the SC riv. Injectors not too bad either.

Albertj

WELCOME ABOARD !!!

The supercharger was grinding when I got it back. And then it started locking up so I took the belt off. I also checked the SC fluid and found a lot of big debris. Is this a coupler problem?

Welcome to the forum. I'm still a newbie myself, but have found this site very helpful. I have a 97 also but its not supercharged. It sounds like you have a lot of work to do. I've enjoyed mine so far. I still have loads of work to do on my car for it to be what I want it to be. But my advice would be to take your time and try to take on one thing at a time unless its something small. I hope you enjoy the forum and take advantage of all it has to offer.

FERGI'S 97 SC RIV wrote:

The supercharger was grinding when I got it back. And then it started locking up so I took the belt off. I also checked the SC fluid and found a lot of big debris. Is this a coupler problem?

Might be, if your coupler was so far gone that it fractured and then fragged in the snout, jamming the gears. Although I have never seen that... thanks for the details.

I said what I originally said because usually the SC coupler goes and the SC gets noisy. If you have debris in the SC oil I would immediately pull the SC. Even a junkyard SC would probably be an improvement...

My other guess is that somebody messed up while installing a "custom" air intake (something I would not bother doing) and removed the throttle body screen for whatever reason (some think it improves air flow, it does not. Yes there is less blockage but lack of screen = turbulence where you don't need it) --and some debris got in. Jamming the SC air vanes, which caused the belt drive to strip the SC gears. Problem is that would not only show up in your SC oil, but also result in damage to the engine once whatever the debris is blew past the lower intake manifold.

Either way it needs to come off and be repaired, and the rest (from air cleaner to inspected for signs of damage.

I am wondering if what you really need is a good used replacement engine (with SC) - which while not free may be less costly on balance. Did you change something right after you got the car?


Albertj

Maf. Sensor. Is all I changed since buying. But the engine was replaced at some point and I know it was done half a$$.

FERGI'S 97 SC RIV wrote:

Maf. Sensor. Is all I changed since buying. But the engine was replaced at some point and I know it was done half a$$.

I hope you did not drop something into the throttle body - would be easy to do if you replace the MAF and could explain all the excitement.