Eaton oil change writeup (pics)

[Jimmysidecarr]

It says right on the Eaton link posted previously not to use any oil other than supercharger oil.

"New oil can be obtained from any GM or Ford service parts facility, or from one of the Eaton aftermarket supercharger partner companies or remanufacturers. Please make sure you do NOT use any other type of oil, including synthetic motor oils. These will cause failure."

It is surprising that people are still using motor oil after all these years just because somebody posted a thread about it. If Eaton, the manufacturer of the supercharger, says anything besides supercharger oil can damage the unit, why would you question it?

Use supercharger oil.

Regular motor oil DOES NOT have the correct specifications as the OEM supercharger oil. Some guys may get by using it, but the properties are not the same. As the reps at Eaton will tell you, it is not the correct fluid.

The OEM supercharger oil is made by a company called Nye. Here is everything you need to know about it:

http://productsearch.nyelubricants.com/pdf/TDS_English_SYNTHETIC OIL 605.pdf

The Ford AND GM oil are the same, so don't cut corners - just by two 4oz. bottles from your local GM dealer (much cheaper than Ford) and do it right!!

Edit: By the way, don't mix supercharger oil and motor oil - different base, different properties, and different viscosity!

The reason Eaton recommends NOT using a conventional or synthetic oil in the blowers is because the GM/Ford/ Eaton supercharger "oil" is a glycol based high temp lube. Look at the MSDS sheet. It is a PAG oil.

Glycol based oils/lubes are generally not compatible or misible with hydrocarbon oils. They do not mix.
Residual amounts of the original fluid can be a problem if they are not completely cleaned/flushed out first before using a hydrocarbon based oil.

http://www.dow.com/ucon/osp/pdf/L104_22_DOW_Lube_Tech_v2.PDF

If you have the snout off and can clean it out well with brake clean or something else that will leave no residue you should be ok.

Assuming you have selected an appropriate high performance high temperature synthetic oil replacement, that is also the correct viscosity for the application's rpm.

You can also do a simple drain and fill if you do it twice, this will get most of the PAG glycol based lube out.

We recommend Royal Purple HPS 5W-30 (part #31530, quart bottle) or Royal Purple XPR 5W-30 (part #01021, quart bottle). These oils are not regular motor oils, they both provide between three and four times the film strength of other oils including the original PAG factory fill Eaton oil, and will live in this high temperature environment.

 

[nextime]

So since my car is an 03 and sat most of its life (7000 miles on the clock now) I am changing the fluid.

It cant do no harm and I will be buying the GM fluid.

I paid 24K in June 2012 for this car (3000 miles) and I am not going to be cheap on something like this and use motor oil!

 

[BradB_04svt]

Great write up, Ill be doing this within the next week or so.

 

[Spoolx]

It completely boggles me how people will spend thousands on mods but try to save 20 bucks on an oil change you do once every few years.

 

[kenny0529]

I wonder how hot the supercharger oil actually gets compared to motor oil. I would bet if u sucked it out right after a drive And drained the motor oil at the same time, the motor oil would be much hotter. I'm just guessing and wondering. I think I may try it next weekend. Rpm range is much different obviously. Not trying to start anything here. Just thinking out loud. Curious. Great right up. Thanks for everyone's input also. Good info in here

 

[JTAlweezy]

I didnt put any motor oil in my and recommend you dont do that. I used turbine oil similar to what is used in aircraft. I would get turbine oil that is pag or ester based. The fluid and thermal properties of motor oil dont come anywhere close to how well pag and ester oils perform. If you put turbine oil in your eaton you will be sure to have zero issues with it during the life of the car. Mobil Jet Oil 254 (Aviation)

Good link showing the properties of the oil

This is what you should use in your eaton, or what i think as a mech engineer

Mobil Jet Oil 254 Quart Can Full | eBay

I may be going overboard but i would think some of us do not typically change this a lot and this oil is what i have put in since i have owned my car.

 

[JTAlweezy]

Another note, the spin rate of the supercharger gear assemblies will cause motor oil to bubble, (aerate). Turbine oil is designed for higher spinning assemblies and settles faster. Reducing aeration is critical to the life of your supercharger. Best of luck.

Hmm should hAve mentioned this too, pag and ester can be mixed together. You mix a hydrocarbon oil (motor oil) with pag or ester you get a caustic environment that break down seals and create a whole lot of other problems. And also note that when you remove the plug in the supercharger, air escapes cause it is under pressure. Motor oil does not do well in high compression applications. The link i provided is for mobile jet oil 254. It was the cheapest and by far had the best chemical properties for providing the best lubrication for the supercharger

 

[themaxx69]

Nice how to. I just finished changing the oil. Of course it smelled like caca.

I got 2 little black 4oz bottles from a chevy dealer for about $28 and a 2oz syringe with 3 feet of 2 different size vinyl tubing from ace for under a buck. Syringe was free cause they didn't sell them, just had them for store use I guess. 3/8"OD tube from end of syringe was too big to snake into the blower, so I used a 1/4"OD on the end of that and it worked great.

Got about 6ish ounces out and put about the same in. Strange thing, when I loosened the filler bolt it bubbled out for a minute, like it was pressurized or boiling. I did drive for about an hour prior, but let it sit for about an hour after.

Thanks again.:banana:

Oops! Duhh. I just saw the end of the last post.

 

[Gixxerride04]

Excellent write-up. This helped me when I changed mine a few weeks ago. The oil was very dark when I drained it. I used the GM oil when I refilled it too.

 

[Shelbyman]

so where do we get the "good" blower oil?

Go to Amazon.com and do a search for GM Supercharger oil. $7.99 for 4oz. You'll need 2 and a syringe you can get on Amazon as well.

 

[Shelbyman]

I just read the whole thread and cannot believe people are STILL putting in "motor oil"...............

I'm seriously baffled.

Haven't we gone over this enough times??? Use the FORd or GM oil......if you're not going to use the right stuff why not just use tap water in there.......WTF:shrug:

 

[Shelbyman]

Changed the oil in my supercharger yesterday.

I have an 04 Cobra with 11600 miles. Its 10 years old so I wanted to change the oil even though it has low miles. I read this thread which is great and I would like to add some details that I learned. I got the GM supercharger oil along with a syringe from Amazon...cheapest I could find. When I pulled the plug the oil did come out...so use rags stuffed down below the fill hole. Not sure how they get more oil in there to begin with at the factory but there is no way you can when you refill. And my engine was cold.

The syringe is good...works well BUT the hose on it is too big to get in the hole in the blower. IF you aren't getting much oil out then you are NOT getting your hose to the bottom of the reservoir. Its just going in and hitting against the gears in the housing. I had the same issue. I solved the problem by stepping down the hose size. I had some various size hose around so I stepped down 2 sizes...just insert one inside the other...just a snug fit is all you need. Then I was able to bend the smallest hose and work it down to the bottom of the reservoir and got out a good amount of oil...maybe close to 8oz. The color of it was medium amber without much smell but my car has not been driven hard. Anyway got all of it out that I could.

The new oil is virtually clear...I could detect NO color what so ever. I wish it had some dye in it so I could tell when the reservoir was full. I mean I could tell some was coming out but would have been easier if it had some color. I think the easiest way to add the new oil is to use the syringe and pull it out of the oil bottle. I tried another way but this was the easiest and cleanest. I put back in almost the complete 2 bottles...so I would guess about 7.5 oz. Had some spillage when it came back out but thats to be expected.

That was about it...the rags did well catching the spilled oil so you need them. And you need the smaller hoses to make it work right. These are great threads and I appreciate everyone posting these how to's. Good luck!!

 

[69boss408]

http://k-mansparts.com/items/misc~fords/motorcraft-supercharger-oil-xl-4-detail.htm here pretty good deal if you want to use the Ford oil