'dumb' question about superchargers?

[maroon111993]

Can anything other than actual supercharger oil be used? I talked to a guy at a parts store in town and he said some will use 5w-30. But I want to make sure.

[rfoster]

I've always used GM's oil, without a doubt. It stinks so bad, tho....

ZZP has some..... clicky

[J Wikoff]

People with other makes of cars with superchargers get GM's oil. IMO, stick with it.

[maroon111993]

I have a friend arguing with me that 'superchargers don't have to take a special oil' I keep telling him SuperCharger oil and he's telling me to use gear oil or a random motor oil weight.

[J Wikoff]

I wonder if he knows the dealer tech that told me they ran off the engine's oil, so there was no need to ever change it.

[maroon111993]

Hahaha. Wow.

[maroon111993]

What about this? http://www.walmart.com/ip/Super-Tech-75 ... t/16795247

But I don't know what weight to use..

[SSEiMan01]

S/C oil is basically whale fat and other fatty oils. Hence the horrible smell. I wouldn't use anything else though, Eaton/GM deisgned it to use that, so why wouldn't you? A lot of dealers still stock the stuff even, and not that expensive when you think about how often it needs changed.

[maroon111993]

Yea. I can't find any dealers that carry it. The ZZP link is the cheapest. Might just order it from there.. but looking everywhere else online, they say it shouldn't need changed, just topped off. The SC is making a 'rattly' noise, but still pushes out 9+psi at 6k rpm...

[SSEiMan01]

The rattly noise is the coupler. And the oil is recommended to be changed at 100k intervals if I remember correct. I did mine at 50k just because. Since you're in need of a coupler anyway the oil has to be changed. Besides like anything else it does degrade over time. Very slowly maybe but still.

[maroon111993]

Coupler difficult to replace?

[SSEiMan01]

Not really. There's a writeup in Techinfo IIRC.

[maroon111993]

Just looked it up. Doesn't look too bad at all

[00Beast]

Coupler replacement is easy.

[RJolly87]

There is a service bulletin floating around that directs dealers to use Synthetic 5w-30. I don't know about the cause and effect side of it though.

[yourgrandma]

I really dont see whats so special about the blower oil. I use the GM stuff, but I was very tempted to just toss in some Royal Purple motor oil.

[MattStrike]

High-rpm, high shear, high temps is my opinion. Conventional motor oil would not have lasted 50-100k in those conditions like the smelly stuff does. Synthetic oil might be able to last a lot longer, but again... cost vs. change interval. Did the TSB recommend a change interval at all?

[maroon111993]

Well since my coupler needs replaced, (seems easy enough), I'm just goina order the actual oiler and coupler from ZZP. Thanks for all the input, though guys . Don't think I wanna risk trying anything else in the SC, especially since not everyone came to the same conclusion haha

[rustyroger]

Supercharger oil is designed to operate with superchargers, engine oil with engines, gear oil with gearboxes......

If the engineers who design them specify how they should be lubricated I'd follow their recommendations, if I was an engineer or oil expert maybe I'd form my own opinion. If I was I'd wager I'd agree with the makers specification.

But I'm not, a few dollars more for the correct lubricant rather than the cheapest is probably the least expensive option in the long term.

Roger.

[RJolly87]

High-rpm, high shear, high temps is my opinion. Conventional motor oil would not have lasted 50-100k in those conditions like the smelly stuff does. Synthetic oil might be able to last a lot longer, but again... cost vs. change interval. Did the TSB recommend a change interval at all?

it doesn't, it just advises it can be used when it is serviced. The TSB came out for 92-93 also, so that tells you how long ago it was.