Write-Up: Changing Supercharger Oil

Thanks for that. Now it has been changed, will check the level at every service (3000miles) and keep the level topped off. Looks like I need to get another bottle of supercharger oil for top offs but that can wait till I am near a store that sells them.
Cheers and thanks for your interest,
Rodney

Hi again, Rodney,
I am going to have a rare disagreement with Albert here.  As everyone knows, GM barely made any mention of the Supercharger snout oil, only recommending top-offs.  When I bought my '97 back in 2005 with 69,000 gentle miles on it, the "synthetic" oil that contains fatty acids smelled like so much rotting cheddar!  I had to suck it out & refill it twice to get rid of the odor...  Since then, I've drained & refilled it on the same schedule as the transmission fluid - 30,000 miles.  

Besides the gears, the oil also lubes the snout coupler.  And even though those have been a frequently replaced part (and I assembled a kit YEARS ago with oil, gasket/sealer and the new, improved green coupler) I still haven't had to do the actual job...  I'm the only one that hears a little rattle from the coupler when I shut the engine off.

Thanks for your input Eldo.

Thinking it will become a service item at 30,000 as suggested.

Interesting you mention the transmission as according to the Buick owners manual, it never needs changing however I’m reluctant to just leave it. On the one hand it seems to run smoothly and shift flawlessly as is but thinking new oil and filter will be advisable as it is 25 years old and no doubt Buick were not thinking that far ahead when they wrote the service procedure.

Will be reviewing what owners are doing here and go from there!

Thanks for your interest
Rodney

RodneyRiviera wrote:

Thanks for that. Now it has been changed, will check the level at every service (3000miles) and keep the level topped off. Looks like I need to get another bottle of supercharger oil for top offs but that can wait till I am near a store that sells them.
Cheers and thanks for your interest,
Rodney

My GM dealer checked and topped off the SC oil at every oil change I did there.

No other oil change service I'd purchased did that.

IF your SC's in good shape you won't be adding much SC fluid.

Albertj

RodneyRiviera wrote:

Interesting you mention the transmission as according to the Buick owners manual, it never needs changing however I’m reluctant to just leave it. On the one hand it seems to run smoothly and shift flawlessly as is but thinking new oil and filter will be advisable as it is 25 years old and no doubt Buick were not thinking that far ahead when they wrote the service procedure.

Will be reviewing what owners are doing here and go from there!
Thanks for your interest
Rodney

As you have no doubt been told, the people who write the factory maintenance instructions are only interested in getting through the Warranty mileage...  

If you actually have a 4T65-eHD that shifts flawlessly, I can understand your reluctance to mess with it.  My own has pissed me off since I bought the car!  While nothing has gotten worse, and right away (back in 2006) I had a full 11-quart flush done, it still takes waaaay too long to shift into Reverse or Drive, and its computerized 'intelligence' to be in the right gear at the right time is FAAAARRR worse than the Turbo-Hydramatic 400 in my '69 Buick convertible!  Now, I learned a few tricks about the Turbo 400 decades ago, but I've never found anything similar for our transmissions.  Some of the reason that my old tranny shifts so perfectly is that I've been running Ford (Type-F) fluid in it for the past 30 years, as well as using (as you were asking about) a better filter from the Allison AT-540 transmission...  The final modification was to install an adjustable vacuum modulator on the side.  

I think the best test for your tranny is to use the "see & smell" test...  If the fluid is still pink/red and you can strip it off the dipstick with your fingers and it smells "chemically" and not burnt, you're okay.
Mark

What's handy is a hand-held pump from the Mercury boat people, used to pump oil out of marine engines for when one does an oil change. The pump has a female garden hose threaded collar where you screw it to the dipstick tube in the marine application, I just picked up a nipple from the hdwe store and screwed it to the pump, then some clear pvc tubing onto the nipple. That left the free end of the pct for me to stick inside the M90 SC unit and then just pump the oil out, so easy. That kind of pump is good investment too, since I used it a lot to empty transmission pans by putting the pvc hose down the tranny dipstick tube, before pulling a pan. Use it also to remove most of the antifreeze from a radiator, great little gadget.

Eldo wrote:

RodneyRiviera wrote:

Interesting you mention the transmission as according to the Buick owners manual, it never needs changing however I’m reluctant to just leave it. On the one hand it seems to run smoothly and shift flawlessly as is but thinking new oil and filter will be advisable as it is 25 years old and no doubt Buick were not thinking that far ahead when they wrote the service procedure.

Will be reviewing what owners are doing here and go from there!
Thanks for your interest
Rodney

As you have no doubt been told, the people who write the factory maintenance instructions are only interested in getting through the Warranty mileage...  

If you actually have a 4T65-eHD that shifts flawlessly, I can understand your reluctance to mess with it.  My own has pissed me off since I bought the car!  While nothing has gotten worse, and right away (back in 2006) I had a full 11-quart flush done, it still takes waaaay too long to shift into Reverse or Drive, and its computerized 'intelligence' to be in the right gear at the right time is FAAAARRR worse than the Turbo-Hydramatic 400 in my '69 Buick convertible!  Now, I learned a few tricks about the Turbo 400 decades ago, but I've never found anything similar for our transmissions.  Some of the reason that my old tranny shifts so perfectly is that I've been running Ford (Type-F) fluid in it for the past 30 years, as well as using (as you were asking about) a better filter from the Allison AT-540 transmission...  The final modification was to install an adjustable vacuum modulator on the side.  

I think the best test for your transmission is to use the "see & smell" test...  If the fluid is still pink/red and you can strip it off the dipstick with your fingers and it smells "chemically" and not burnt, you're okay.
Mark

I think one of he best hings I did with my 4T65E was to 'convert' to Dexron VI from Dexron III. When you do that conversion, *never* convert back.

And Eldo, sorry I didn't mention his years ago - what you might want to try, if you can get your hands on a Tech II, is to reset the transmission control parameters to the original factory settings either for the Riviera (cushy) or the Bonneville with SC engine (SSEI - sporty but smooth). The transmission will do some adaptaion over time based on your driving so he first several weeks could be less than your liking. After a couple months if you are still not happy - then - make parameter changes to suit you better. There are a LOT of parameters, including delaying engagement from Park to Drive or Reverse.

Thanks for the tip Albert. I knew there were a lot of parameters, but hadn't heard of that resetting choice... I imagine I could do the same thing with a HyperTech laptop system?

Eldo wrote:

Thanks for the tip Albert.  I knew there were a lot of parameters, but hadn't heard of that resetting choice...  I imagine I could do the same thing with a HyperTech laptop system?

I don't know. What their devices (for instance the Power Programmer) will do varies by make/model/options on the car you're tuning.

I just came up with a couple more questions Albert.
Bonneville with SC engine (SSEI - sporty but smooth).  
Whether an aftermarket programmer like HT or a Tech II, which my local mechanic has, how do you get access to the "wrong car"?

There are a LOT of parameters, including delaying engagement from Park to Drive or Reverse.
Are you saying that they actually programmed the initial gear engagement by time in milliseconds, and it's not a low pressure issue?

Thanks,
Mark

Eldo wrote:

I just came up with a couple more questions Albert.
Bonneville with SC engine (SSEI - sporty but smooth).  
Whether an aftermarket programmer like HT or a Tech II, which my local mechanic has, how do you get access to the "wrong car"?

There are a LOT of parameters, including delaying engagement from Park to Drive or Reverse.
Are you saying that they actually programmed the initial gear engagement by time in milliseconds, and it's not a low pressure issue?

Thanks,
Mark

1) I do not know how to get access to "the wrong car." One interesting thing about my GM dealer is that several of their mechanics have a *lot* of experience. One of them, "Mooch," was working at the selling dealer that sold me my Riv in July of 2000 and was the mechanic that did the pre-delivery work on my car. He would know -- because somehow when they would connect my car to the Tech II the VIN was correct but the car identified as a 2000 Bonneville SSE. I do not know how they did that. I think the service manager told me once that they did that so that they could work on the car, with one of those ask-me-no-questions-I-will-tell-you-no-lies smirks and I didn't ask how they did it again. There is one thing, though. The MALL (body computer, controls the mirrors etc) in my car quit and they installed one for a Bonneville SSE - maybe that's all that happened, actually. The neat thing is that doing so provided a couple extra Personal Choice functions too.

2) The pressures in the 4T65E are monitored by sensors and modulated by software,generally. HOWEVER, there are still mechanical bits. For instance, my understanding is that P1811 is the diagnostic trouble code for maximum adapt /long shift. Using a TechII you can see that code if it is lit. So what you do then is you look at the shift adapts with the Tech II. If they are almost 30 lbs (like 29.95 lbs) on most of the cells, then you simply have a stuck pressure control solenoid - that would cause low pressure throughout the transmission and the transmission will try to adapt--which is what brings you the maximum adapt/long shift. What's more, you pull the lower pan, you'll find very little clutch dust. Thing of it is, it's still a GM transmission -- to change the PC Solenoid, IIRC you don't need to pull the valve body because pan-off the clip is accessible. The insight is that the electronic adjustments don't mean squat if the switchgear (solenoids etc) to enable them isn't working. And there's your mechanical issue so to speak.

Thanks again!
That IS really interesting that somewhere along the way your
computer got gender-affirming surgery to be a Pontiac...  

My original plan, before the HT tuner got packed away for multiple house moves as soon as I
bought it, was to play with the line pressure, and that kinda' jives with your mention of solenoid
problems, although I think all those solenoids & sensors are under the "side pan", not the
regular pan below...  

It's funny that you used the term MALL, because I've always forgotten to see what that stood
for before it was renamed the Body Control Module.  Turns out it was "Multifunction Alarm,
Lock & Lighting Module... which didn't make sense with another module called the Lamp
Control Module!  

I just inherited a professional  "OTC Determinator " which is a newer
scan tool than my old OTC, so I will soon see what that thing can do.
M