Well 250km into my trip to my cabin i heard this nasty sound coming from the engine bay....like a bearing failing...i reach for the keys to shut the engine off...too late...i see the alt belt fly out the side of the truck in rearview mirror and the bat light on...

I get out and the s/c is siezed, wont rotate Girlfriend says "Should we get a tow truck"
Me: "no f'en way this is getting us home!"

The truck limped home with no more then 15% throttle allowed and running off the optima battery (was night so i needed lights on, but i drove 50% of the way without lights on some people helped me out and lit up my way)

I got home and parked the tacoma until today where i removed the s/c in hopes that i could replace the bearings and rebuild it!


NOPE here is what i discover




Below shows the grindind on one of the rotors from one of the rollar bearing needles coming out and thrashing the s/c




Even the case didnt survive



BASTERDS!


back to N/A....

...
...

For now

 

hot damn,

 

Wonder if tjhey would warranty that?

 

nope 3 years old now...i bet it would work if i cleaned eveyrhting off and sanded it down but i would get like 2 psi

 

wow that sucks guessing your out alot of money now

 

Oooouch! That's terrible man. How many miles did you get off of that charger in the 3 years you've had it? Hopefully it's been a good three years. How many miles since you modified the pulley? Perhaps that was the cause?

 

Man, that really sucks!

......not only did it trash the S/C lobes but it toasted the housing too.
I really feel for you on this one.

How many miles were on it?
Did you have a smaller pulley?
Did the bearing retainer fall out? or did one of the needle bearings just disintegrate?

 

Bummer dude, what is suppost to lube those bearings anyway?

 

Dude, that really sucks... My question is:

What is the best way for me to avoid this happening with my supercharger? Regular maintinence?

Also: did any of those needle bearings end up IN your engine?! That would not be good...

 

Good point, ouch!

 

It might be a good idea to take the top-end of the engine off and take a look in the cylinders for little needles sitting in there... If they got stuck in a valve or something that would be pretty bad. Plus they might mess up your cylinder walls...

Or at least look at the bearing and count the needles to see if you have all of the needles you should...

 

A simple compression check would save a teardown like that.
.....if you got low compression in 1 or 2 cylinders, then you physically look.

 

He did mention that he drove (limped) it home after he found out this happened. Depending on how far he drove the vehicle and evidence of needle bearings in the engine should of been apparent. Just my thoughts.

But then again for peace of mind it might be a good idea to pull the top end.

 

That's true but the engine will run with low compression in at least 1 cylinder.
Compression test should tell if all is ok mechanically or not.

 

you should bolt it back up and see if magnuson will accept it back as a rebuild :/

 

THey wont accept it as rebuild due to the 3 years 100k miles on it...yes its a smaller pulley, but i dont know when i got it from a ebay seller (was new) he was a bit fishey over it and then was suspended on ebay. I dont know if it was a knowen lemon or whatnot. I could have had a faulty unit for a while and not knowing it!

The s/c made a odd bearing noise 15k ago and i replaced the oil and it went away...then it came back and thats what happened.

The engine is VERY healthy still (i LOOOOVE the 5vz) and have 200p[si in each cyl which i love as it reachs towards the 250k mile mark! (now who said the 4bangers are more reliable!)

My thoughts are that the needle eventualy just desintigrated into the housing ...if anything was in my engine...its not anymore :/

THe limp home was caused by the TINY bypass hole that is in the s/c...that hole to feed 3.4L of engine is kinda tough, anything higher then 15+ throttle would just cause the auto tranny to ลลลล itself (shift everhwere) and the engine to bogg. The smt6 reported a very low airflow hitting cells i have never hit before which proves low airflow.
I have yet to drive it on the street (i have 3 broken cars blocking the way) but i did a drag launch in 4wd high in my backyard and it pulled like it used too....to bad not like 8psi

Other then running REALLLLLY rich (tuned for 8psi with 370cc injectors) it has nice pep.

The good news is that i can now test the cams as n/a Maybe go for a dyno again.

Supercharger Specs:
2.2 in pulley 80k miles

Dont worry guys....the failure of the s/c just pushes forward the development of an idea i had....lets just say 1.7L....

Out with old...in with new! (when i have money!)

 

Diesel?

I might be willing to take that smoked S/C off your hands, BTW... for free that is, i'll pay shipping

 

I'm sure that S/C still has a few parts on it worth more than free (like the nosedrive).


Heck, even damaged I bet people would still bid over it on eBay if you were able to get any psi out of it at all (so you might just sand the rough areas smooth, slap it together and see how much pressure it makes).

 

ouch dude...that sucks. whatcha got in mind with a 1.7 that could possibly move the 3rd gen? wankel? diesel? a 4pot that can rev to 8G's?

there was a S/C on craigslist a couple weeks ago if youre thinkin of gettin blown again... 15hun they wanted...

 

250k on your truck, with 100k charged, 80k on a smaller pulley, and still cranking 200+ compression in each cyl is f'n amazing. It's seriously ridiculous how well these trucks run with proper maintenance.