Supercharger rebuild

[skrenos@skrenos.com]

I'd like to take pictures, but at this point, there's not much point. It's just a hole in the casing. There's cuts and stuff for o-rings, fiber rings, and washers, but you really cant get much detail with a camera. There's a very limited field of view and you really wouldnt see much. There's holes on the sides of the walls, but thy're TINY and you have to get your face RIGHT on the casing and look to see them.

[Saint_]

So does that vacuum problem cause s/c to fail seriously?

[skrenos@skrenos.com]

I truly believe so. Everyone keeps saying 'graphite seal! graphite seal!' but my graphite seals are fine. It's obviously a sludging problem which is impossible to clean unless you rip it all apart.

I'm not even sure that check valve is even graphite. I've never felt graphite like it before. it chips like a hard plastic, it doesnt seem to take any wear, but I beat on that **** with a metal rod and a hammer and it didnt shatter. I'm thinking it might actually be cast iron.

[Saint_]

Thats an interesting point. This may be the reason for mysterious s/c failures.. I found a hole 6 months ago in one of the hoses that goes to s/c. Other than visual there is no sign of the broken hose. So the hoses that get to s/c are they all just vacuum? I guess there are two small hoses..

[skrenos@skrenos.com]

Yep. 2 hoses. The pipe on the left side near the exhaust port services the left bearings, and the one on the right side services that side.

[millyowner]

The thing depends on manifold vacuum for proper oiling? That explains a lot. The miller-cycle seems to be a vacuum hose *****. But all that sludging...I wonder if that could also have been neglected oil changes or a sign that dino 10w30 every 7500 miles doesn't cut it for the IHI supercharger. Mazda was really cutting corners around the late 1990s and I wonder if service intervals were among the cuts. I also wonder if the sludge would have been a problem if Mazda had just specified a synthetic oil as factory fill on the miller-cycle in the first place.

[skrenos@skrenos.com]

Well, our sludging happened right after a 10-20 thousand mile winter. No oil change. We had put mobil extended oil in there. Supposedly good for 15,000 miles... but I think that would be for a regular car.

10w30 synthetic or semi-synthetic every 3000-4500 miles is what I recommend. Oil changes are so cheap, I dont see why people just dont do that. My brother wanted to be lazy/cheap about it and look where it got him now. I can only imagine what else is stuck inside the engine.

[Terrentius]

Well, our sludging happened right after a 10-20 thousand mile winter. No oil change. We had put mobil extended oil in there. Supposedly good for 15,000 miles... but I think that would be for a regular car.

10w30 synthetic or semi-synthetic every 3000-4500 miles is what I recommend. Oil changes are so cheap, I dont see why people just dont do that. My brother wanted to be lazy/cheap about it and look where it got him now. I can only imagine what else is stuck inside the engine.[/b]

Yeah, that is what I run my oil changes at. I started four oil changes ago and have noticed dramatic changes with how my engine runs. I will never use dino oil again!!!!

[skrenos@skrenos.com]

Yeah. I usually run synthetic in my vehicles. It used to be mobil 1, but that kept increasing in price. I switched to Walmart brand Supertech synthetic for 1/2 the price. Supposedly made by Castrol or Quake State. Cant remember which it is. Then one time, they were all out, so I went semi-syn and i think I've stayed there ever since.

Speaking of this, I need to change the oil in my truck.

[Saint_]

I was thinking about converting to synt for some time and decided to postpone this time again. I have dino oil in the trunk but i will go get a walmart brand high mileage synthetic for $13. Hope i dont get any leaks..

My father has a diesel hatz engine (good german brand) in his boat. He told me a tip that he uses to decide on when to change the oil. Basically he sip some oil with his thump and index fingers then he opens them. If oil extends it is good, if it doesnt extend like water its done. My dino oil stops extending around 1k miles.