Supercharger Sling

**HEADWEST** · 07-19-2013

Still waiting to see if decking the heads will stop water from getting inside the engine. someone had already replaced the head gaskets to no avail. If that problem gets solved I'm on to the next one. My mechanic pointed out that the supercharger is slinging oil onto the firewall and under hood area. Looks like from behind the pully. The boost gauge shows that it's still making boost. It would seem to me that replacing the neck portion would be the easiest and cheapest way to fix the problem but being a 05 model, there seems to be a limited supply of shops that sell just the neck (none that I could find). can anyone suggest a solution? I really don't want the car down for 2 or 3 weeks while the existing SC is being rebuilt. I checked the parts page here but didn't see a good used one for sale. If anyone knows a good mechanic or shop in or around ST. Tammany parish please pass on the name and contact info.

**Scottydoggs** · 07-19-2013

not really sure what the problem is here....water in the engine? sc oil being slung?

i think we need a better chain of events told about whats been going on with it.

**blueguy** · 07-19-2013

To me, sounds like the LIM gaskets and everything need re-done like usual and you were hosed by whatever mechanic you are using.

Typical blower leaking oil...needs resealed.

Sounds normal.

**1quikgp** · 07-19-2013

I 2nd LIM gaskets. If the SC leak is directly behind the pulley, that would be a snout seal. Easy fix, and even a write up somewhere.

**HEADWEST** · 07-20-2013

LIM gasket is fine. The first mechanic checked LIM at my request and found no problem, original problem was excessive engine temp when car was stopped. The mechanic changed the radiator and water pump, hopeful the overheating and loss of coolant would stop. It didn't. When I took it back he said I needed another engine and the bill would be between 4 and 6k depending on whether I picked a used engine or a rebuilt one. I told him no thanks and took the car to another mechanic that I have used in the past. He said it was probably a head gasket so I told him to fix it. He called yesterday and told me someone had already changed the head gaskets and suggested sending the heads to a machine shop to be decked and have the valves cleaned up and lapped. He also asked that I come to the shop and take a look at the cylinder walls because two cylinders were scratched up. I went down and looked. The scratches were visible to the eye but undetectable by touch. The mechanic asked if the car ran rough or missed and I told him that besides the rough idle in the morning (from the coolant getting in #1 cylinder) that the car ran great. While I was there he called the machine shop and got two prices for rebuilding the bottom end. One was 2200.00 for cleaning up the cylinder walls and putting new bearings and gaskets in the other was 2800.00 to bore out the cylinders replace the pistons, bearings and everything else needed for the job. Keep in mind why I bought the car. It's for my son to deliver pizza and use around town. Not long trips or using on the track or racing. The mechanic said if it was his car he would put the heads back on and drive the car, I agreed with him. The only other possibility for coolant loss in the motor is a cracked block. I'll find out this evening when I pick up the car and pay my 1640.00 bill. If the car runs OK I'll get to the supercharger. Being that it's an 05 there seems to be a shortage of replacements out there. I called several supercharger shops that I found online and none of them had just the neck to sell me. All but one shop said I would have to send my sc in to be rebuilt. The one shop I found that had a replacement sc said they would charge 650.00 for the sc, 200.00 core charge and 75.00 to ship. That's almost a grand out of pocket even though I will get the core back.

**Scottydoggs** · 07-20-2013

chances are the shops your going to dont know a whole lot about the supercharger in general. i was also told i need mt sc rebuilt, it was a 20 dollar coupler that changed my self.

the snout seal is fix able. heres a vid, parts can bought on line, and if you show this vid to your mechanic and he has a press (most shops do) he can fix this for far less then a new supercharger do the coupler while hes there.

**HEADWEST** · 07-20-2013

UPDATE: Went by the shop and spoke to the mechanic. He had the heads back on and told me whoever changed the head gaskets used non supercharger gaskets. He said the difference was that supercharger heads had four cooling passages in them that non supercharged heads do not. So the head gaskets were blocking off the water passages in the heads causing an increase in engine temp. I guess the previous owner trying to fix the overheating problem caused by a clogged radiator, which caused the water pump to prematurely fail and then installed the wrong gaskets made a relatively easy repair into a nightmare. That's why I pay mechanics to do the work for me. I'm not a mechanic and don't want to be, but I respect what they do and how they do it.

**matt5112** · 07-20-2013

That doesn't really explain why ZZP sells L36 head gaskets for all cars yet no one has had this specific complaint from them as of yet.

The only difference in the heads between sc and non is the injector boss is drilled out in the SC heads. The blocks are identical as well, in fact, all SII and up blocks are identical.

Better yet, here's pictures of the gaskets:

http://fme-cat.com/overlays/part-det...=#.UesinW12Sik

http://fme-cat.com/overlays/part-det...=#.Uesinm12Sik

Aside from the size of the pushrod holes, I don't see any difference between them.

As for the oil onto the firewall, that's just oil getting on one of the belts.

Unless you can see the snout of the blower is leaking, it might just be the typical power steering leak that's throwing fluid onto the firewall.

Also, you haven't looked in the right places for a rebuilt snout either. Here's ZZP's price: http://shop.zzperformance.com/store/...M90-Snout.aspx

You want a Gen 5 unit.

For the water pump to fail at any mileage after eight years, is not premature. It should be expected as a possibility of owning an "old" vehicle. My pump had 87K miles on it when it died.

http://shop.zzperformance.com/store/...M90-Snout.aspx

I still think you're being bent over by mechanics who don't know what they're talking about.

The first LIM I had was pitting and resulted in coolant leaking past the LIM gaskets, despite using the metal felpros and aluminum GM's. I replaced the LIM with a non pitted unit and that solved my issue there.

It is impossible to tell what's going on with your vehicle because at this point, you have placed your trust in a third party. Any and all input we give you is useless as the mechanic is not going to accept input from the internet unless he is the one searching for it. So if your problem is solved, good for you, but you spent well over what the vehicle is worth without actually finding out what the actual problem was. You still have all of the other W body issues that might spring up and cost you what you've put in all over again.

**dbextreme** · 07-20-2013

^^^ This

Mechanics are in it to make money, not be your friend.

Take your finger and run it around inside the back of your SC pulley.. If it's wet, you need to replace your seal. There are videos online where you can rebuild your snout with the kit, rubber mallet, wood, sockets, extensions.... Would I suggest this, no.. But I'm not sure. I'm going to attempt it on one of my spares.. But if you don't want to attempt it, the kit above or Intense has them..

Have your heads been checked since they were off the car the first time??? I read, but I may have missed where they were... They could be slightly warped, which I doubt because it's harder to warp the cast heads... Could they be cracked? Could be piss pour prep work when assembly... Could be original bolts were used and not properly torqued (far fetched, but possible)... Hard to tell, to many hands in the cookie jar...

**HEADWEST** · 07-21-2013

You guys are great. A lot of useful info. I really appreciate all the help. I'm not sure what's going on with the head gaskets but I'll do some research on them. The mechanic at Northshore Motorsports works on a lot of high performance cars and is always busy. When he explained about the head gaskets it made perfect sense to me and he showed me the difference including the direct injection on the 05 and later heads. I took my son to pick up the car so he could take it to work and the car sounds great. After I got home, I was working in the yard and my cell rang. I looked at the caller and it was my son. He never calls me unless something is wrong. With hesitation I answered and he told me that the car was running great. He said it had more power and no matter how long he sat in traffic the temp gauge didn't move. It may not quite be time to strike up the band yet but I am VERY relieved. So far, so good.

**matt5112** · 07-21-2013

There is no direct injection on any 3800 head.

The supercharged cars from 96-2008 had injector bosses in the heads, slightly closer to the intake valve. The 95-2008 non supercharged cars had the injector bosses in the intake manifold. Probably less than an inch away.

If there were big differences in the gaskets, perhaps the gasket was not made correctly or packaged correctly.