Well as some of you may have already figured out. And I am sure that many of you don't know too.
But our (MCS owners) Superchargers have a ~100,000 mile life.
Mine died right before the 95,000 mile mark with a 15% SC Pulley on for last 50k miles and 2% crank on for last 8k miles.
I just sent it off today to be rebuilt and ported by Stiegemeier Porting.
(note: this is from my 2002 10/02 build MCS)
Here are some pics of the puppy:


Notice: ZERO oil in the gear casing on the water pump side!!!



Notice: This will more than likely will happen to you!



Notice: Taking this off wasn't all that bad, just took a little time, and will save you a ton in labor$$$!



My car suddenly started to overheat one day and as soon as I pulled over the needle was about to the top (sucky MINI h2o gauge).
Then, as soon as I popped my hood open.... My coolant reservoir exploded at the seam! (now have a radical Canton tank installed ready to roll!)

All in all, I noticed louder engine sounds (thats what i thought it was) probably about 15 to 20k miles ago (~8 months ago), and just shrugged it off as a higher millage sound... haha. Still ran great, so wasn't too worried about it.
That louder sound was actually my rear supercharger gears grinding away to nothing due to lack of gear oil that must of slowly leaked out over the past 5 years!

Just wanted to get the word out before it causes more problems than it needs to!

 

How did the water pump coupler look?
Jim

 

the last picture is the picture of the water pump side.. The water pump was fine as was the outside connector gears. I hope that answers the question.

 

Sorry about the failure, but it sounds like you're making the best of it.

The WP gears don't look in too bad a shape - other pics I've seen they look all chewed up.
Can Stiegemeier replace the WP drive gear(s) as well?

 

How much will thier service cost? What is the time frame? This won't happen to me for quite some time since my car only has 37k in 5 years.

 

i couldn't get a great pic like i wanted due to lighting.. but the inside of the gears is totally gone.. just a small thin layer on the outside (which is what you see in the pics.. much worse in person).
Yes, they have everything for the M45 except for the top SC gasket! Which i got from Classic.

 

Their turnaround time is 1-3 days!!! Very fast! I'll have everything back on next weekend!
This is exactly what he sent me:
depending on what would need to be rebuilt the cost with porting is going to start at 495.00 -695.00 with out porting 295.00-495.00.
We will know better once we take at look at it we don't perform any work unless you give the okay so you can send it in and we can go from there.
Thank you
Stiegemeier

 

Ah, now I see it - yep, all chewed up!
Makes me want to pull my 42K SC just to make sure that doesn't happen!

Keep us informed, i.e. +1 to nabeshin's Q's

 

It would be ridiculous if yours did look like that.. but who knows!
And Stiegemeier says that seal is improved and much better... so I am hoping this won't ever happen again... or if its every 100k, i guess max of $700 w/ porting is all that bad. Just crazy that its basically guaranteed to happen. :impatient

And I will definitely update the feel and possible boost differences from the porting once i get it back!!!
Gosh i can't wait... driving an S-10 isn't half as fun as my Mini.

 

Well you figure the oil didn't all leak out at once, so if you were hearing noises at 90K, 50K might not be a bad time to pop it off and top it up.

I've got an M45 on a '91 Miata, and need to R&R the fluid in the front gear casing every few years, as it weeps a bit.

Looking forward to your impressions!

 

Very True!
I'm sure the oil level isn't where it's supposed to be!
There is a fill pug on the side of it that you can access once you remove the WP!

 

More photos and a fluid change overview https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=74674

 

I replaced an SC on a friends car for the same reason. She let the noise go on way too long, until it started over heating. It must have been 20 to 30k miles before complete failure at 88kmiles. The gears were complete toast, including the drive needle bearings.

Mine started the noise at 119k miles. I pulled the SC after about two weeks of the rattling. The gears still look new, but there was literally one drop of oil inside. I got to it just in time.

 

My 2003 s/c was rattling for several thousand miles and I replaced it at about 54,000 miles I contacted one of the rebuilding places before buying an 06 takeoff and they said they did not have the gears. If the rebuilder has ALL the parts, then we MCS owners will be able to buy rebuilt ones a long time into the future. In a few years there will be a real demand for rebuilt s/c's. that's a good thing.

 

Okay!
An update on the whole Stiegemeier situation.
They cannot get the gears that is in our SC's, they are a LOCKED part number by Eaton. So no re builder is going to be able to repair our SC's until Eaton lets them!

So I sent out a ton of emails to all the vendors I regularly deal with as to a few NAM members... And guess who came out on top! as always!
Chad from Detroit Tuned... He rounded me up an '05 takeoff (for JCW kit) that had ZERO miles on it! $450!!! Amazing! All the junkyards I contacted had them but wanted $550 to $600 for SC's anywhere from 4k to 30k miles on them.
I can't wait to get my machine back on the road!
Thankyou for such amazing customer service once again from Detroit Tuned!

So no porting for me, just a new SC! and I am way happier this all worked out the way it did!

 

Chad's great -- and always charges a fair price, too. He's done most of Wanda's mods.

 

Big QUESTION here is why are the gears not available??

 

Always!
I live in VA, but I order everything I can from him! So he just supply's the parts!
(I can barley afford parts more less pay someone to install, hah)

Good question. Seams ridiculous to me. But it sure is a good way to force us to buy brand new superchargers that cost large sums of money and probably yield amazing profits?

I even emailed Magnuson because they offer a rebuild program and they said they don't even have the parts. That's when you know somethings up.
Here is a quote from their website: "Magnuson Products, Inc. promotes and distributes Eaton Superchargers to the automotive aftermarket industry in North America.Additionally, Magnuson Products, Inc. has been appointed by Eaton as the only authorized re-manufacturer of Eaton Superchargers." and they don't even have the gears!

 

Dumb question, but what does porting do?

 

It's not a dumb question.
The idea is to get better/more/more efficient airflow through the SC.
There are a couple of different schools as to the best way to achieve this. Somewhere around here there's an SC porting thread were they show pics.
One shop changes the shape of the exhaust port, another closes off the oem 'vents' in the exhaust port.

 

Thanks for the answer Eric.
The SC is very rough on the inside.. so I am sure it reduces the turbulant airflow as well.

 

truly annoying. Let's hope somebody with the right contacts can get to the bottom of this one. This does not bode well for R53 owners for the long term.

 

Pretty much... Basically its time for us all to find a spare SC to hold onto for when you need it. Junkyards, Dealers (JCW takeoffs), NAM members + who ever. Somebodies probably got one for you, better find yours before they are all gone.

UPDATE:
My new SC got shipped today from good ole Chad from Detroit Tuned. And it will be here saturday! I am putting everything back together either saturday or sunday as long as my old SC comes in by then too (cuz its got my 15% pulley on it).

Good gosh I cannot wait!

 

How much for the new SC?

 

Anywhere from Absurd to Rediculous! From take offs, anywhere from $200 to $600. And somewhere the OP listed the quotes he got from wrecking yards. Keep an eye on eBay, and buy one when the money is available.

There are some who are doing a refill service, and you can do it yourself. I'm of the school of thought that the leak is the FIRST failure, so refills are just buying time. But to be fair, if it's enough time, then all's good there!

Removal of the SC isn't hard, the most difficult part is getting over the fear of tearing the front of the engine apart. It's easier than it looks.

Matt