SuperCharger Oil question

[MIGTPGUY]

i know kid or larry can help me on this. My neighbor is a master certified mechanic and also builds his own hotrods. He is around 50 years old. I had him come over and help me with my PCM install and T-stat as well as headlights the other day. He seemed to know what he was doing, but we had a lil debate. He is not a grand prix enthusiast like us. Somehow durring our talk about what kind of matainance i was gunna do to the car (flush and fill, oil change etc etc.) I brought up that with 100k miles and just recieving the car myself about 2 weeks ago, i was about to change the supercharger oil. He told me that i didn't need to and that the oil for the supercharger is fed through the engine oil itself. He was saying that the oil the lubes the pistons and everything also flows through and does its job on the S/C. I told him that GM makes an OEM supercharger oil. He was being a lil stubborn about it. Im just wondering if he has any truth to what he said. Im still going to take it to a dealership and have the S/C Oil changed

[kustomkid54]

Tell your friend to keep working on old cars. The oil in the supercharger SHOULD be changed. It is not feed thru the engine oil or any other place else. Any oil in an enclosed area with the wear and tear that a supercharger goes thru will break down.
Here is how you do it.
http://www3.sympatico.ca/aepa/blowerinstall.html
Enjoy
Merry Christmas

[carnutcass]

He's probably thinking of the earlier (3800 Series I) supercharged 3.8 engines. Those superchargers ARE lubed by oil from the engine's crankcase.

Just show him the Maintenance Schedule portion of your owner's manual. Every 30,000 baby! Forget the dealer, do it yourself. It only takes about 10 minutes.

[ericvrose]

And when you do it, make sure you are wearing a gas mask!

[kustomkid54]

Only if you have bean for Christmas.

[MIGTPGUY]

i smell something burning tonight, im afraid my supercharger is worn or damaged.... cuz i have 100k and i know the 2 people who had it before me and i dont think the oil has been changed at all. Should i be worried bad or just concerned lol. And if the oil in the SC is broken down and it is the two gears in the nose of the SC that are burning up, how hard and expensive are they to replace. Like i said, im 80% sure that the SC oil was never changed, since the car belonged to my friends mom before i got it. BTW there are no maintanance records in the glove box when i got the car.

[MIGTPGUY]

o and Kid, that article on how to change the oil looked like just a picture of the kid gettting tho oil out. I dont have a syringe laying around to get it out and still have no idea if i juss pop that lil valve cover off to get to it. Im so worried that the gears in the nose drive are burnt out now. how much does a dealership charge to do it, way to much

[kustomkid54]

You know I asked the dealer that. $50.00. Took it to the garage down the street. $30.00.
Best way I found, an old waterbed pump. Ran a small hose off it, and let it do all the work.
Here's another person's look at it;
http://www.clubgp.com/cgi-asp/mods.asp?modid=13

[kustomkid54]

And by the way, I maybe old, but my car is really fast.

[BIG-L]

I dont have a syringe laying around to get it out and still have no idea if i juss pop that lil valve cover off to get to it.

This is my revised version from clubGP

What ive used for the past 6 yrs is an old spray bottle and some fish tank hose.

Parts:

You will need two bottles of GM supercharger oil, GM p/n: 12345982

Tools:

Old Spray bottle w/pump

Short fish tank hose about 12" long - needs to fit over the end of spray pump,and the other end in the s/c housing.

3/16 Allen wrench

NOTE: Make sure that your engine is cool before starting this and is on level ground!

1.You can first start by removing the cover.Remove the center nut and set in a safe place,then lift up the cover and tip it back to release from the rear bracket.

2.Next remove the 3/16 allen head plug and set aside with the cover nut.

3.Insert the tube that's attached to the spray pump into the hole of the S/C housing,and pump out as much oil as you can inside the housing into the old spray bottle.This may have to be done a few times moving the hose around,to remove as much of the oil that you can. Dispose
of your old/used oil with your old motor oil in an environmentally SAFE manner.

4.Add the new oil until it fills the snout to the bottom of the threads. It will take almost two bottles. Be careful to NOT overfill!

5.Screw the plug back in and do not over torque.

Now you have just done an oil change on the SC.

how much does a dealership charge to do it, way to much

They wount touch it,but they will be glad to sell you a new SC

i smell something burning tonight, im afraid my supercharger is worn or damaged

I bet your smelling oil from a bad valve cover gasket......been there and done that

And if the oil in the SC is broken down and it is the two gears in the nose of the SC that are burning up

Ive never heard of a problem with those grears,but we do have a problem with the rattling of a bad SC coupler


~Larry~

[MIGTPGUY]

no noise, just smell. Big L, as far as mechanical terminology, im illiterate. When it comes to engines im more of a point and do, picture book kind of guy, so what is the Valve gasket. Im assuming there is mroe then one. Talking about engine or SC here. and could a dummy like me look at it and tell if there is a bad valve if i know what im looking for, or is this a mechanic's job?

[ericvrose]

The valve cover...the cap where you pour your oil into the engine screws onto the valve cover. There is that one and another on the other side of the engine. There is a gasket between them and the engine. Alot of times that gasket starts leaking oil and sometimes you can see it pudling around the bolts that hold the valve cover down. If thats happening you will smell the oil burning. I dont think you would want to try this repair. The back one is hard to get to.

[MIGTPGUY]

i notice oil , not puddling , but i notice some oil by the engine right by the headers..

[MIGTPGUY]

BTW Eric V Rose, are you by any chance from michigan.... this is gunna be so weird, but i have a buddy named Adam Rose and he has a cousin named Eric V Rose....

[MIGTPGUY]

and if this gasket is leaking, on a scale of 1-10, how big of a problem is this, and how much will it cost to repair, i have a buddy who is a mechanic, so exclude the hefty labor charge if there is one, doesn't sound to serious to me though..