Write-Up: Changing Supercharger Oil

Found this image researching other things. I'd guess it would take a long time to pump all the oil with the sprayer head.

Whatever works! I use a hand siphon pump that cost about the same as whatever was in the spray bottle + the water. Some have luck with a turkey baster.

I just flipped the eaton over and dumped it all out. Oh wait, it wasn't on the car when I did it  

I used a big syringe with a tube attached. Worked perfectly. A few pulls and she was empty!

jugg is that your engine? look at the fuel rails

I used my Mityvac kit "MV8000 Automotive Tune-up and Brake Bleeding Kit" to extract the SC oil. Easy job.

Also, as much as you will be tempted to, don't drink that old SC oil.    

joshuadalegrimes wrote:

jugg is that your engine? look at the fuel rails

I don't think it is. Look at the front/upper mount. Most likely in a Grand Prix.

Changed out my SC oil today. Not before a trip to the store to get a screw extractor as I had striped out the star-bitted plug. Pretty sure the replacement oil was twice as much or more than I took out. Any clues where I can order a replacement plug?

ZZP sells them. I had the same issue when I changed the coupler.
http://shop.zzperformance.com/store/p/389-EATON-Snout-Fill-Plug.aspx

Just for the record, and if you want to be exact, the total oil capacity for the M90 Eaton supercharger is 225 ml. Use a graduated cylinder to meaure it exactly, after evacuating all the STINKY oil out of a cold supercharger reservoir, before you carefully pour it in.

This 225 ml capacity information is off of the Eaton website for the Series II 3800 supercharged engine.

Or, filling to the bottom thread of the fill hole will accomplish the same thing. Anyone who doesn't get all the old oil out, may not want to just dump in 225 ml.

The factory service manual is silent on CHANGING the oil as part of the maintenance scheduling. It DOES say on pages 0-39 and 0-40 (Volumn 1 of 3) (Short Trip/City Maintenance Schedule): "For supercharged engines on: Check the supercharger oil level and add oil as needed (or every 36 months, whichever occurs first). Refer to recommended fluids and lubricants.

Mind you, this applies to Series 2 motors and I'm running it in a 1998 Riveria

The level is way more important than changing it. Are you questioning whether to change it or not? Not clear.

No. I'm doing the lower intake manifold (LIM) gaskets and have pulled off the supercharger and I thought...hey, with the thing off, and the car approaching 200,000 miles, and I've no idea if the former owners changed the oil or even checked the oil, might as well change it while it's sitting on a bench. I've had to turn the unit upside down to scrape off the old gasket, and nothing leaked out (and me having no experience with a supercharger), again, I thought, why not. There's a body of believers that hold that nothing is "lifetime", especially with automatic transmissions, but 200,000 miles on a car that is 21 years old, I figure, "what do I have to lose". Plenty of Riveria's in the junkyard. So I got 2-4oz bottles of fluid on order from Amazon and I'll see what gives. Replacing the LIM plus the coolant hoses will be enough for me.

EyeDoc1 wrote:

Plenty of Riveria's in the junkyard.

From what I'm hearing it's a swift trip from the yard to the crusher for a Riviera.

Hey EyeDoc1,
I drained my supercharger on my 98 with much less miles than you have and filled it with 2 of the 4oz GM bottles of fluid. IIRC.

When you drain that fluid, do it outside otherwise your shop/garage will stank worse than a skunk for a couple of months.

Good luck to you.

We are fortunate indeed in the Pacific Northwest to have "Pick 'n Pulls" where from a fixed price list you can bring your own tools and scavenge to your hearts content.  Riveria's usually last 2-3 months for people to strip, and I've been rewarded sometimes with parts from a 98-99 Park Avenue, especially motor parts.  The supercharger oil smell was NOT that bad, as I was expecting much worse.  The use of a 2 ounce medical irrigator or syringe and a 5" or so clear piece of plastic piping made removal of the old oil a piece of cake.  I wish regular oil changes were as easy, as I swear mechanical engineers never talk to mechanics.  Makes me appreciate the cartridge filters on '90's era BMW's a thing to behold.  About the only oil change I could do without getting a drop of the stuff on my hands or the concrete.  My other gripe is those plastic covers that are nothing but heat sinks that have totally dried out hoses under the hood, making routing vacuum hoses all that more difficult to maintain, especially the "T" connectors, and especially the one right under the supercharger snout...which is different from the "T" mounted by the fuel regulator over the spark plug (call it #1, front, radiator side of the V-6).  I can see why they used rigid plastic piping instead of flexible hoses.  But enough griping.  1/4" and 3/8" rubber hoses solved my problem, including sliding a piece of 1/4" hose into a piece of 3/8" hose (use CRC silicone spray...$2.97 at Walmart for a big can as a lubricant) that connect to the throttle body.  That's my "tip of the week" for disintegrating vacuum hoses on a '98 Riv.

Hey Doc, I'm in Salem and I'd be curious to know where you can still find Rivieras in Pick 'n Pulls!
Mark

It's actually quite easy.  Pick 'n Pull in Portland (PNP) is owned by Schnitzer Steel, a big corporate metals company that does a lot of scrap work.  If you go to picknpull.com, you'll see the large number of yards that are in the PNP network.  Whether Schnitzer Steel owns them all is irrelevant, but I just did a quick search and there's a '97 and a '99 in Sacramento, one that was deposited there on 10/4/19.  You can put in your criterion is you want.  Usually they post a picture and I can't recall if they give you a VIN number.  That being said, what you want to do it go to www.row52.com.  This is a different site that has 122 affiliated junkyard tied to it (and here they post VIN numbers, if that's important).  On this site, you can list cars you need parts for and sign up for text messages (and they usually come in at 0400, waking you up from a sound sleep).  So I have a list of cars I own or the family owns, such as the Riv, Ford Escape, BMW 3 and BMW 5 series etc.  You get the picture.  Then when a car is place in the yard,  you get a text.  I have it just for Riv's without regard to year, so I'll get a text that says a Buick Riveria is in the yard, and I'll have to investigate WHICH yard within my parameters, which is 100 miles.  You can do 25 miles or 500 miles or unlimited.  So when a Riv pops up, I can see a picture, get a VIN number, etc. and make a decision if I want to pack my tools and head on out.  Become a ToolKit member and you get emails telling you of special sales.  This weekend is 40% of anything you pull.  Sometimes with a sale, it'll start on a Friday, but if you're a ToolKit member, you can come on Thursday as sort of an Early Bird Members Only Special.  If you want, say supercharger parts, and the Riv supercharger is on other models, just specify something like Park Avenue or Regals.  Your choice.  Other things about PNP.  If you're a vet, 10% off anytime on anything.  Spend $150, get a coupon in your email for $20 off next visit.  They charge 2 bucks entry fee, and stamp your hand if you're "making the circuit" of Sherwood, OR, Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA like I do.  The Toolkit Rewards thing is free to join and it's a marketing thing.  I honestly think the company makes money three ways.  Hoping you strip off things unsellable (plastic, glass), make their job easier by stripping off and partially disassembling the vehicles for them, and of course selling parts worth more than their scrap value.  Cars usually are there for 2 months or so.  Sometimes pickin's are good, and sometimes it's a waste of time.  But I usually come home with treasure and will be there this weekend eyeballing a 99 Park Avenue for a few things.  Do your research online and they'll tell you what row your car is in, so I have a little 3 X 5 that say "Riv in Row 8 in Sherwood, BMW 3 in Row 33 in Sherwood, BMW 5 in Row 1 Vancouver".  I bring my toolbag, slap down my two bucks and it's off to the races.  I'll be there Friday with my list (but alas, no Riv's available).  Hope this helps.

Yes, that definitely helps...  
(That's the one thing that sucks about self-serve yards - how fast the cars get sent to the crusher.)
Thanks Christen!

There are a number of pickers who pull parts for $ (usually short $) on Row52, too.

Thanks Albert, I've never even heard of that one...

Eldo wrote:

Thanks Albert, I've never even heard of that one...

Poke around on the Row52 site. There is a portal to contact pickers and a sign up sheet to become one if you want to pick up money pulling parts. On balance the pickers listed are a decent lot. It does not take long to distinguish the Schmos from the Joes.

[quote]There are 1 new vehicles matching your saved search "Chevy Truck C/K 2500" at www.Row52.com[/quote

This came in over the transom this morning at 0752.  It's tailored to my search parameters and by cross referencing this notice to the Pick 'n Pull.com website, I'm able to find which of the three junkyards I watch and the date and row the car is residing on pops up.  Being retired helps so I can shoot on down and see if the pickin's are good.  And I apologize that this is slightly off topic and should be posted elsewhere, but I'll let the gurus do their thing.  One other mention, the Row 52 site is somewhat clunky trying to figure out how to set up and add cars to your watch list, but once successful, it works pretty good.

Hi all,
Thank you for the write up as it made the oil change a simple process having all those tips. With only 14,632miles original miles on the clock, unsure it it was ever changed as there were no service records with this 1997


Riviera.



Am changing all that by documenting EVERTHING I do, no matter how trivial, so the next custodian can see and understand what has been serviced.

The old oil looked clean and brown with no obvious sediment or rubbish coming up through the large syringe provided in the kit. However a big surprise as the correct AC Delco Supercharger oil is clear, colourless fluid.

Must have done a stellar job of sucking all the oil out as it took most of the 8ounces of fluid.

Very happy that is done, another job off my to do list. Pictures or it never happened.
Rodney

The SC fluid turns brown quickly in service. Although you *can* change it (most enthusiasts like us do) it isn't necessary unless the fluid becomes contaminated (grit) in which case you've bigger problems anyway- it IS necessary to keep it topped-off. The oil fill for Eaton 92-95 3.8L GM superchargers is 4.9 oz and for the 96-2000 3.8L GM superchargers is 7.4 oz. Fluid is topped off if you park on level ground, remove the SC bung, and fill until a little fluid drips back out of the bung hole. It'll take a little more or less depending on how off-level you are parked when you check it - don't worry about that just top it off.

For your own convenience you may want to put an Allen key for the bung in the glovebox, for instance in one of the pockets of the plastic cover for the owners manual.