will a GTP engine work without the supercharger?

[pointatob]

Hi,

i was curious if anyone knew the answer to this question:

if the supercharger begins to go bad (i've heard that they sometimes have problems much over 100k miles?) can you just disconnect the supercharger drive belt and use the engine as a normally aspirated setup? or is the air intake so linked to the supercharger compressed air output that this is not feasible?

i have a 2000 grand prix GTP sedan. i don't have any supercharger problems whatsoever at this point, but i have 92k miles and i was wondering if down the road (if i do have problems) i could just remove the supercharger belt and run the 3.8L engine as though it were a GT model...? any thoughts?

thanks in advance...

[kustomkid54]

Originally Posted by pointatob

Hi,

i was curious if anyone knew the answer to this question:

if the supercharger begins to go bad (i've heard that they sometimes have problems much over 100k miles?) can you just disconnect the supercharger drive belt and use the engine as a normally aspirated setup? or is the air intake so linked to the supercharger compressed air output that this is not feasible?

i have a 2000 grand prix GTP sedan. i don't have any supercharger problems whatsoever at this point, but i have 92k miles and i was wondering if down the road (if i do have problems) i could just remove the supercharger belt and run the 3.8L engine as though it were a GT model...? any thoughts?

thanks in advance...

There are guys on this site with a 160,000 miles on their GTP's and still driving them. But yes, you can drive the GTP without the belt. You just won't have the power.

[mike561]

yea i have 104,000 miles on my 98 and my supercharger is still goin strong.

[regalfriend]

I have a 97 Regal and S/C belt snapped...the car drives fine...there is a big loss of tourqe, but has no bearing on the car except for performance...at 92,000 i would suggest changing the S/C oil, i think it needs to be done every 50,000...not sure...even with out s/c hooked up the car has some pep to it, but i missed the all out tourqe at low rpm's

[pointatob]

Originally Posted by regalfriend

I have a 97 Regal and S/C belt snapped...the car drives fine...there is a big loss of tourqe, but has no bearing on the car except for performance...at 92,000 i would suggest changing the S/C oil, i think it needs to be done every 50,000...not sure...even with out s/c hooked up the car has some pep to it, but i missed the all out tourqe at low rpm's

thanks,

yeah, i've added s/c oil before but never drained / refilled. i thought i saw a post somewhere on here about that procedure though, so i'll do a search...

[regalfriend]

Re: Changing Supercharger oil, Best Way? (Post #2)

Quote:Originally Posted by regalfriend
I have a 1997 1/2 Regal Gs. I am getting ready to put a new pulley and belt and realize the S/C oil should be changed...I think owners manual says every 50,000 miles. When i asked a friend how to do this he showed me the allon bolt in the nose drive..He told me to take the bolt out and use a turkey baster to extract the fluid. He said the fluid is really rancid and to throw away the baster after the job..My question is...Do i need to elevate the left side of car to ensure all fluid is coming out? How many pints do i need to refill and how do i know when S/C is full?

Here's a link to the one most of us have used:

http://www.clubgp.com/cgi-asp/mods.asp?modid=13

[99grandgt]

hey guy, replace the 'charger oil and you should be gravy

[JoeJoe231455]

The supercharger never actually "goes out". There is a coupler that connects the snout to the supercharger rotors that can break or become loose. Easily replaced for $25 bucks and a couple hours of work for a first timer. The only other thing that can happen is the bearings for the rotors can go out which requires having the supercharger main core body removed and new bearings get pressed in. Again, a cheap fix. I think Zzperformance will do the latter repair for you cheaply if necessary. The snout gears and the rotors are the other moving parts in the supercharger and I doubt you will ever kill either of them under normal or mildly upped boost conditions.

[pointatob]

oops. i guess i was wrong.

the supercharger belt is connected to other systems as well on my grand prix. this being the case, if the bearings were to go out on the s/c rotor (as joejoe231455 mentioned was a possibility) i guess they would need to be changed immediately. so how could you run the engine without the supercharger being hooked up? wouldn't you have to run a shortened belt and then that might change the relative rotational speeds of the other systems on that auxiliary belt?

[JoeJoe231455]

The supercharger belt is connected to the crank pulley and the supercharger pulley only. At least on the 97-03 cars. Nothing else is hooked up to it and you can run the car forever with it off. The car is just so slow it makes a Grand Am feel like a Ferrari.

[BigBL87]

Originally Posted by JoeJoe231455

The supercharger belt is connected to the crank pulley and the supercharger pulley only. At least on the 97-03 cars. Nothing else is hooked up to it and you can run the car forever with it off. The car is just so slow it makes a Grand Am feel like a Ferrari.

Just saw the Grand Am/Ferrari comment, and it shouldnt slow the car down THAT much. Basically, you'll be running like a GT, which I have, and my car feels and is faster than a Grand Am, barely but it will still beat a stock Grand Am. I know it was sarcasm and all, but just wanted to clarify that you won't get beat by GA's.