Supercharger Owners

[Rob]

Hi all,

Just a quick heads up on a possible problem that all supercharger owners should be aware of.

The supercharger drive pulley front cover has 3 small bolts and a central shaft bolt. The 3 small bolts act as link pins to transfer drive from the pulley to the central shaft( Or so it appears - I have not had time to strip the pulley assy fully) On mine the 3 small bolts worked loose with the result that the bolt holes and threads have been damaged and of course the bolts have been lost - this also means no pressure from the supercharger.

So have a check of the 3 bolts and the central larger bolt to see if they have been installed with thread lock!

When I replace mine i will wirelock the bolts so there is no possibility of them working loose.

[Gord]

Hi all,

Just a quick heads up on a possible problem that all supercharger owners should be aware of.

The supercharger drive pulley front cover has 3 small bolts and a central shaft bolt. The 3 small bolts act as link pins to transfer drive from the pulley to the central shaft( Or so it appears - I have not had time to strip the pulley assy fully) On mine the 3 small bolts worked loose with the result that the bolt holes and threads have been damaged and of course the bolts have been lost - this also means no pressure from the supercharger.

So have a check of the 3 bolts and the central larger bolt to see if they have been installed with thread lock!

When I replace mine i will wirelock the bolts so there is no possibility of them working loose.

Just another heads up, all 3 are star drive bolts :winky:

[Rob's Lexx]

any chance of a pic of where you mean as i'm not the best with this type of stuff.

cheers in advance.

rob

[RX-Men-8]

Hi all,

Just a quick heads up on a possible problem that all supercharger owners should be aware of.

The supercharger drive pulley front cover has 3 small bolts and a central shaft bolt. The 3 small bolts act as link pins to transfer drive from the pulley to the central shaft( Or so it appears - I have not had time to strip the pulley assy fully) On mine the 3 small bolts worked loose with the result that the bolt holes and threads have been damaged and of course the bolts have been lost - this also means no pressure from the supercharger.

So have a check of the 3 bolts and the central larger bolt to see if they have been installed with thread lock!

When I replace mine i will wirelock the bolts so there is no possibility of them working loose.

The three little bolts are to permanently lock the magnetic clutch in the charger pulley. On other cars where tis type of charger is mounted, the clutch is engaged by the 3 wires on the side (clipped off by TTE).

[tdiplc]

Good call Rob :D

We developed an upgrade a a year or so ago which deals with this issue HERE

[Rob]

any chance of a pic of where you mean as i'm not the best with this type of stuff.

cheers in advance.

rob

look at the supercharger from the front of the car, look at the pulley on the front of it - you will see 3 small bolts in a triangle pattern. These are the bolts that can come loose

[Rob]

I had a look at your post a few days ago as i remember kieran had a similar problem but didnt his shear instead of working loose?? Hopefully this afternoon ill strip the pulley and see whats happening inside.

[tdiplc]

I had a look at your post a few days ago as i remember kieran had a similar problem but didnt his shear instead of working loose?? Hopefully this afternoon ill strip the pulley and see whats happening inside.

Yes that's right Rob - they sheared off due to the increased loading of the stage 1 upgrade.

We haven't come across any coming loose yet - maybe you are breaking new ground :)

[Rob's Lexx]

any chance of a pic of where you mean as i'm not the best with this type of stuff.

cheers in advance.

rob

look at the supercharger from the front of the car, look at the pulley on the front of it - you will see 3 small bolts in a triangle pattern. These are the bolts that can come loose

cheers mate

[Rob]

any chance of a pic of where you mean as i'm not the best with this type of stuff.

cheers in advance.

rob

look at the supercharger from the front of the car, look at the pulley on the front of it - you will see 3 small bolts in a triangle pattern. These are the bolts that can come loose

cheers mate

no probs - infact looking through your pics of the supercharger install you can easily see the 3 bolts i am refering to.

[Rob's Lexx]

any chance of a pic of where you mean as i'm not the best with this type of stuff.

cheers in advance.

rob

look at the supercharger from the front of the car, look at the pulley on the front of it - you will see 3 small bolts in a triangle pattern. These are the bolts that can come loose

cheers mate

no probs - infact looking through your pics of the supercharger install you can easily see the 3 bolts i am refering to.

ahh yess, the silver bolts on the black pulley. with you now. thanks for the heads up. if they show signs of coming loose i'll get some lock tite on there.

cheers again

[Rob]

i would check before they show signs of being loose TBH

[Rob's Lexx]

i would check before they show signs of being loose TBH

do u mean you would just undo them and put some lock tite on them? if so, is it simply a case of undoing them and putting them back in, or is there more to it?

[Monster-Mat]

Rob, are they Bolts, or Screws <_<

[Rob]

Rob, are they Bolts, or Screws <_<

no idea as not found one yet but to me a screw is any fastner that is threaded upto the base of the head. A bolt is a fastner that has a plain section on the shank.

So it could be either but it is probably a screw.

I normally use the word bolt on here because if i mention screw people tend to think of a wood screw type fastner.

Mat do you have a parts breakdown of the SC pully?

[Rob]

i would check before they show signs of being loose TBH

do u mean you would just undo them and put some lock tite on them? if so, is it simply a case of undoing them and putting them back in, or is there more to it?

If it was me on my own car then I would check each one for tightness and if its easy to undo, if so, I would apply threadlock. If you decide to do this remove one bolt at a time apply the threadlock then reinstall it.

[Rob]

I had a look at your post a few days ago as i remember kieran had a similar problem but didnt his shear instead of working loose?? Hopefully this afternoon ill strip the pulley and see whats happening inside.

Yes that's right Rob - they sheared off due to the increased loading of the stage 1 upgrade.

We haven't come across any coming loose yet - maybe you are breaking new ground :)

I had a quick chat with Gord and someone he knows had a SC that rattled - someone found that the central nut behind the cover was loose and also the screws were loose.

So its 2 that we know of now, there may well be more to come!

But I have no idea how long the bolts have been missing - if i had a boost gauge fitted I would have known quite quickly.

EDIT - I HAVE TAKEN THE FRONT COVER OFF AND THERE IS NO CENTRAL NUT - I MUST HAVE MISUNDERSTOOD THE CONVERSATION WITH GORD.

[Bazza]

Hi all,

Just a quick heads up on a possible problem that all supercharger owners should be aware of.

The supercharger drive pulley front cover has 3 small bolts and a central shaft bolt. The 3 small bolts act as link pins to transfer drive from the pulley to the central shaft( Or so it appears - I have not had time to strip the pulley assy fully) On mine the 3 small bolts worked loose with the result that the bolt holes and threads have been damaged and of course the bolts have been lost - this also means no pressure from the supercharger.

So have a check of the 3 bolts and the central larger bolt to see if they have been installed with thread lock!

When I replace mine i will wirelock the bolts so there is no possibility of them working loose.

what mileage has your supercharger covered Rob ?

[Monster-Mat]

Rob, are they Bolts, or Screws <_<

a screw is any fastner that is threaded upto the base of the head. A bolt is a fastner that has a plain section on the shank.

................ but it is probably a screw.

I normally use the word bolt on here because if i mention screw people tend to think of a wood screw type fastner. :winky:

Mat do you have a parts breakdown of the SC pully?

i do, i will need to dig it out though

[Rob]

Hi all,

Just a quick heads up on a possible problem that all supercharger owners should be aware of.

The supercharger drive pulley front cover has 3 small bolts and a central shaft bolt. The 3 small bolts act as link pins to transfer drive from the pulley to the central shaft( Or so it appears - I have not had time to strip the pulley assy fully) On mine the 3 small bolts worked loose with the result that the bolt holes and threads have been damaged and of course the bolts have been lost - this also means no pressure from the supercharger.

So have a check of the 3 bolts and the central larger bolt to see if they have been installed with thread lock!

When I replace mine i will wirelock the bolts so there is no possibility of them working loose.

what mileage has your supercharger covered Rob ?

To be honest Barry I have no idea - at a guess 20-30K miles maximum.

[Rob]

tbu

[Rob's Lexx]

sorry to hear about the problems rob.

hope you get it all sorted mate

[sparkystav]

Is there any way to get the magnetic clutch working again?

As i've seen a car where the charger only comes in when you put your foot right to the floor and not when your just driving normally. and i like that idea.

Stav

[Rob]

anything is possible... merc USED to have the magnetic clutch system but they have ditched that becuase there were a lot of problems with the clutches - the newer models have a permanent drive compressor. The signal was sent via the ECU so you would need some way of controlling it.

As I am at the moment unable to remove the pulley from the shaft I can not tell you if the electromagnet is still left inside.

TBH the conversion to a permanant drive compressor from a magnetic clutch design leaves a lot to be desired - the only thing joining the 2 parts of the pulley are the 3 small screws on the fron of the cover plate and the screws are no more than 5mm in diameter.

If I had know this was the arrangement I would have replaced the screws with stainless steel bolts a long long time ago.

[sparkystav]

hmm,

Well if you get inside the mechanism can you let me know mate.

stav