Thread: alternative to SC oil?

im parking the car for a few days until i can sort out the Misfire, so im just Going to order some SC oil.

Originally Posted by GTPpower

What's bad about them?

The motor oil becomes thick and sticky. Supercharger oil (which is synthetic) is very then even when cold. It is closer to a spindle oil used on high end CNC milling machines. Maybe closer to other stuff but I work with a lot of different CNC equipment and it's a similar application, gears ball bearings but no clutches.

The front pulley ball bearing only gets lubricated by the atomized oil that has to pass through the coupler ball bearings. So we are counting on the oil bearing atomized.

The front bearing is normally the first bearing to fail with its high side load from the belt tension and its poor lubrication. Note that the lubrication also removes heat from the bearings which prolongs life.

Where does any OEM (ford, GM, etc...) specify anything about supercharger oil? They sell it but I've never seen anything in writing about a oil change interval.

Just like the bulletin that GM said you can use mobile 1. Heard about it but nobody has a copy.

When I bought my first 99 GTP, I read through the owners manual, and saw it there. I'll look online and see if I can find something.

edit: looking at the owners manual now, it just says to check the oil and fill it as necessary.

The way a dealership changes the fluid is to change the entire supercharger. Most all of the superchargers serviced when new were replaced and scrapped when the torsion spring couplers failed especially on Ford products especially on the Jaguars and Supercoupes. I found a lot of cheap ones back when. Bought a new at the time M112 from a Jag XKR for $125 with a bad coupler. Other than that it was perfect.

Jeff

It says to check every 30k miles or 36 months / which ever comes first.

Originally Posted by sseilmnop

The motor oil becomes thick and sticky. Supercharger oil (which is synthetic) is very then even when cold. It is closer to a spindle oil used on high end CNC milling machines. Maybe closer to other stuff but I work with a lot of different CNC equipment and it's a similar application, gears ball bearings but no clutches.

The front pulley ball bearing only gets lubricated by the atomized oil that has to pass through the coupler ball bearings. So we are counting on the oil bearing atomized.

The front bearing is normally the first bearing to fail with its high side load from the belt tension and its poor lubrication. Note that the lubrication also removes heat from the bearings which prolongs life.

I understand that the bearing does fail, but I have personally never had it happen to me, or personally seen it. Maybe read about it a few times on the forums, but it doesn't happen often. I've had my hands on probably 50 m90's here locally....most with 150k+ miles. Hell. My last car, I sold with close to 200k on it, and I never changed the sc oil, or even the coupler for that matter.

I understand that synthetic oil like Mobil 1 is not the best oil for them, but it's obviously a big step up from something like water. IMO, they are just built so tough, it's not worth messing with anymore unless you have a coupler go out.

I'm not trying to undermine you, as I know you have quite a bit of experience with the snouts. But, I've just never seen one go out locally from a bad bearing.

I just bought the GM SC fluid

Originally Posted by 04lss

I just bought the GM SC fluid