How Hot Is Your Charger?

Talisker · August 5, 2009

A few quick questions for all the guys with superchargers.

I got home from a short trip the other day and popped the bonnet for a look at how my throttle cable was routed. Anyway as i leant into the engine i put my hand on the top of the compressor for support and found it was nearly too hot to touch. After further investigation i found it wasn't the whole of the charger that was really hot just the enclosed section at the front where the 2 counter-rotating gears and the oil is found.

So my questions are these. Has anyone else experienced this? Is this normal? and Do i need to replace the oil in the compressor?

EDIT:

I should add that the charger is making no abnormal noises and has no obstructions, grinding bearings etc. When you spin it cool, it sounds and feels sweet as a nut.

sparkystav · August 5, 2009

Sounds normal to me.

Dave-Ellen · August 5, 2009

think they are sealed for life units

Rob · August 6, 2009

"sealed for life" may have been the original intention but i would recommend a periodic check of the oil quantity and a regular feel underneath the front of the unit to see if it is leaking.

The unit does get hot and expect the casing to get well above 80C and of course this gets transfered to the air it is pumping

Talisker · August 6, 2009

No oil is leaking from the plug or the gasket, it's as dry as a bone. That's one of the first things i checked.

Eaton suggest a 100,000 mile service but i think mine has only been run for about 35,000 so that's ok.

It just surprised me how damn hot the thing was, but it all seems well.

So thanks for your responses guys, much appreciated.

edeath · August 17, 2009

Chargers get very hot - thats why you have an intercooler. Same with turbos.

Talisker · August 17, 2009

Chargers get very hot - thats why you have an intercooler. Same with turbos.

This is very true.

But on that note, I recently connected my laptop to the OBDII plug and went for a spin to monitor some parameters. The temp outside read 21degrees, and the air intake temperature read 25degrees which i think is a really good value. The intercooler is obviously doing it's job very well. I should mention that when i installed the compressor i relocated the intake temp sensor to the pipework just before the throttle body to get a more realistic temperature reading.